PLANS for a new psychiatric and mental health facility in Poole would be a "huge step forward", allowing patients to be cared for closer to home.
Dorset Healthcare invited residents to view its proposals for St Ann’s Hospital at an engagement event on Monday, November 14.
The meeting discussed the re-development of the site, which includes introducing a new building comprising a seven-bed male psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU), a six-bed female PICU and a 14-bed female adult mental health unit (AMH).
Artist impressions of the new building were also shared with the public.
Residents were encouraged to share their views on the plans at the meeting as there is still time to influence the design of the proposals prior to the planning permission being sought.
Plans for St Ann’s are expected to be submitted by November 30.
If approved, Dorset HealthCare hopes to begin construction in January 2024, with patient care beginning in January 2026.
The chief medical officer, Fasil Sethi, believes the re-development would be a "huge step forward" by preventing patients from having to travel "hundreds of miles" for care.
Fasil said: "This new build is really important, not only will it have lots of technology advancements, and state of the art facilities, but it will provide care for patients closer to home.
"We don’t want our residents to go hundreds of miles for an adult bed or children and adolescents bed, we want to be able to provide that care closer to home.
"If we provide the care here they will hopefully get better faster as they are in their familiar surroundings and with their loved ones which should make their recovery faster and better."
This month, plans for phase two of this project, which would see the construction of a new, eight-bed inpatient unit at the Alumhurst Road site in Bournemouth, were submitted.
The plans call for a new psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) for children and young people - an expansion to their child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).
A previous bid for the facility was rejected in 2018, but a new design has sought to address local concerns.
The project is part of the government's New Hospitals Programme.
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