Merseyside could be getting two new mental health hospitals following the opening of Mersey Care’s new £25m Clock View Hospital in Walton earlier this year.
Joe Rafferty, chief executive of mental health trust Mersey Care, said: “Everybody thinks Clock View is a remarkable place and we want to use it as the basis for what we do next.”
Clock View, situated in Walton, treats local people for a range of mental health issues including depression, anxiety and dementia.
Rafferty continued: “We would like to build another one in south Liverpool and we are in conversation with Liverpool clinical commissioning group about that and they are very supportive. We also have facilities in Southport that could do with being updated.”
The new hospital facilities would replace existing ones that need refurbishment as part of a massive investment into psychiatric care.
Rafferty said: “We would be re-providing the current services which, in some instances, need updating. You can’t underestimate the impact of a positive physical environment.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn visited Clock View earlier this month during his appeal to end the stigma surrounding mental health. The opposition wants to save 10,000 lives a year by making Britain’s cancer survival rates the strongest in Europe.
Labour plans to transform the NHS by injecting £25 billion into it every year – hoping to ensure patients wait no longer than one week for vital cancer tests – and expect results by 2020.
In 2014 Liverpool City Council revealed that the need for mental health treatment in Liverpool is high, with self-assessed mental well-being reported to be below the North West average.
Rafferty said: “People with mental health issues need to feel part of the NHS. It’s absolutely fundamental people have a positive first impression of where they will be staying.”
The new mental health hospitals could go ahead providing suitable land and funding is secured.