£32m mental health unit to be built in Belfast
Planning permission granted for state-of-the-art facility at Belfast City Hospital
A new £32m mental health facility is to be built in Belfast.
Planning permission has been granted for the 74-bed acute inpatient unit on the Belfast City Hospital site.
Due to open in the summer of 2017, the redevelopment involves the demolition of existing vacant buildings, construction of a new unit, and the creation of car parking facilities and access roads.
The scheme will provide modern state-of-the-art facilities in which to deliver a new ‘user-focused care model’.
Northern Ireland Health Minister, Edwin Poots, said: “This new facility, when complete, will make a real and lasting difference to the lives of many patients and families across Northern Ireland.
"One in four people in Northern Ireland will experience some form of mental ill-health in their lives and more needs to be done to tackle the issue.
"This new facility will help provide much more support, better services and treatment – services that are more effective and more humane; treatments that help avoid chronic disability and premature death; and support that gives patients a life that is healthier and richer - a life lived with dignity."