The Rt Hon. Steve Barclay MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, visits construction site of new £105.9m mental health unit
On 2nd November 2023, the Rt Hon. Steve Barclay MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, visited the site of North View, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH)’s new state-of-the-art mental health unit which is currently under construction in North Manchester.
Mr Barclay met with the GMMH team - including Suzanne Robinson, Chief Finance Officer; John Foley, Chief Operating Officer; and Dr Swanand Patwardhan, Lead Consultant Psychiatrist at Park House; alongside other members of the project team and service user representatives - to discuss the progress of the new unit and to tour the building site.
Pictured left to right: Anne Jones (Technical Instructor, Park House, GMMH), Caitlin Smith (Poplar Ward Manager, Park House, GMMH), Danielle Hardy (Maple Ward Manager, Park House, GMMH), Pauline Brown (Maple Ward Support Time and Recovery Worker, Park House, GMMH) Suzanne Robinson (Chief Finance Officer, GMMH), Rt Hon. Steve Barclay MP, Marc Reed (Associate Director of Capital, Estates and Facilities, GMMH).
North View is the 150-bedroom specialist unit set to replace Park House, the current mental health unit on the North Manchester General Hospital site.
This forms part of the government’s commitment to deliver over 70 major hospital upgrades, helping improve patient care and ultimately save more lives.
In November 2021, the UK government formally approved the Full Business Case (FBC) for the development, to release the necessary capital investment. This followed approval by both the Department of Health and Social Care, and NHS England & Improvement, in September 2021.
Work on North View started in August 2022 with the new unit anticipated to be completed and open in autumn 2024.
The unit will help improve the region’s mental health services and make sure patients can access the care they need in an environment designed to enhance and aid therapeutic recovery.
Once completed, the upgrade will see improvements to patient experience, with spacious single bedrooms, each with a private en-suite shower room, as well as a variety of indoor activity areas, meeting rooms for family visiting, multiple gardens, spaces for therapeutic artwork and a café.
It will house a purpose-built Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), an older adults ward, seven adult acute wards, and a treatment suite.
North View has also been designed as the all-electric mental health facility in the country, to support the NHS goal of becoming net zero; and will utilise energy efficient heat pump technology to provide heating, cooling and the generation of hot water. The building will also incorporate thermally efficient materials throughout, and solar panels to self-generate electricity.
Pictured: Rt Hon. Steve Barclay MP with GMMH and IHP staff members.
The Rt Hon. Steve Barclay, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care said:
“It was a pleasure to visit North View and see how our funding is supporting the construction of this state-of-the art mental health unit.
“This new facility will provide an appropriate space where people experiencing severe mental illness in the region can receive the care they need. With spacious bedrooms, en-suite shower rooms, gardens and areas for therapeutic work, it will undoubtedly help save and improve lives and support both patients and their loved ones.
“North View represents our commitment to improve the mental health and wellbeing of the nation. We’re investing an extra £2.3 billion a year by March 2024 to expand and transform services like this so two million more people get vital support across the country."
Suzanne Robinson, Chief Finance Officer of Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH) said:
“We were absolutely delighted to welcome the Rt Hon. Steve Barclay MP, to the site of our exciting new mental health unit in North Manchester.
“This is a significant investment to transform the inpatient experience for our patients, their families and staff in North Manchester; with vital support and funding from the Department of Health & Social Care. We’ve already made great progress, and we cannot wait to open our doors in autumn 2024.
“We are very grateful to our amazing staff, service user representatives and our partners, Integrated Health Projects, who have worked so hard to turn this vision into a reality, and it was great to be able to introduce them to Mr Barclay and update him on progress.”
This new development is part of an exciting vision for North Manchester General Hospital to improve health and wellbeing for local people over the next 10 to 15 years.
GMMH is working with its Principal Supply Chain Partner, Integrated Health Projects (the joint venture between VINCI Building and Sir Robert McAlpine) to deliver the project.
GMMH recently shared drone footage of North View under construction.
See a tweet posted by the Department for Health and Social Care, featuring a video of the Rt Hon. Steve Barclay MP’s visit and his words about the North View development, here; and another tweet here.
