The £50 million extension and refurbishment of a mental health hospital will offer a better life for users, as well as improving the facility’s reputation.
Council, health, community and charity bosses were given an update on planned works to Lynfield Mount at a meeting of the Bradford and Airedale Wellbeing Board on Tuesday.
Last year the Government announced £50m worth of funding for the Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust to make much needed upgrades and extensions to the Daisy Hill hospital.
Work is expected to start later this year, and will include en-suite rooms for patients, new green spaces and improved communal areas.
At the meeting Bradford Council Leader Susan Hinchcliffe said: “We’re really pleased we’ve got the funding for work to Lynfield Mount, it is much needed.
“Some of the institutions in Bradford are very old buildings that are not really fit for a modern world.”
Explaining why the work was needed, Shane Embleton, deputy director of estates and facilities at the care trust said: “We have an ageing estate. The building was 1950s design and 1960s build – very institutionalised.
“Now we look to make things more open for our service users, such as giving them access to their own en-suite.
“We currently have 22 patients sharing two bathrooms, which in a mental health setting can be quite challenging.
“We sometimes see incidents of violence towards staff because people have to queue for the bathroom.”
He said the Trust had hoped to redevelop the whole site, which would have cost over £100m.
Although the Trust was “delighted” to get £50m funding from the Government, it would only allow an extension and refurbishment, not a full rebuild.
The work will see two 22 bed wards replaced with two modern 18 bed wards, and the creation of an additional 18 bed ward.
Explaining the need for more modern facilities, he said: “This is not like a hospital you go to with a broken leg. This is somewhere people live for a long period of time.”
The extension will be built on the hospital’s existing car park. The Trust recently purchased some land next to the hospital, and has created a new £3.8m replacement car park on that site.
It is hoped that the improved facilities will help reduce the time patients need to stay in the hospital, as well as helping attract and retain staff.
Mr Embleton said: “It is currently difficult to recruit and retain staff due to the conditions of the buildings we’ve got.”
The architecture of the building was also designed to reduce “incidents involving service users.”
Members were told that work was due to start in Autumn and be completed by March 2028. It would be phased, so the hospital will be able to continue operating during the works.
Cllr Hinchcliffe said: “This work will make a massive difference to mental health patients.”
Mr Embleton said: “Unfortunately Lynfield Mount has a stigma attached to it, it doesn’t have a great reputation because of the type of facility it is. We want to improve that reputation.”
By: Chris Young, LDRS
