Planning permission has been granted for a new 54-bed mental health hospital in Bexhill, Eastbourne.
Funding for the new facility is being made available under the national Eradicating Mental Health Dormitories programme.
The hospital will be built in Mount View Street, Bexhill-on-Sea, replacing outdated services at the Department of Psychiatry in Eastbourne.
Construction on site is set to begin early next year and will be completed by the beginning of 2025.
As well as giving the thumbs-up to the hospital project, Rother District Council planners also granted outline planning permission for a second phase of development on the same site, which could potentially provide a further 72 beds, depending on further funding becoming available in the future.
Programme director, Paula Kirkland, said: “This decision is a major milestone towards implementing the first phase of our wider vision to create new modern facilities to address all inpatient mental health needs on a single site for people across East Sussex and beyond.
“We are delighted that Rother District Council's planning committee have agreed that there is a need for a new mental health hospital and that the land in Mount View Street is a suitable site for the new facilities.
“As the project progresses, we will continue to involve the local community as much as we can to ensure that not only will the new facilities provide high-quality care for people, but also become a real asset to the Bexhill area.”
Dr Andrew Hodson, local medical director for East Sussex and Mental Health Lead for NHS Sussex, added: “We welcome the planning committee’s approval and the ‘green light’ it gives us to move on to the next stage of our project.
“The new hospital will not only remove outdated dormitory accommodation, replacing the current shared wards with individual rooms, each with en-suite bathrooms. It will also provide a modern and improved therapeutic environment for patients and create enough capacity to meet future inpatient needs.
“It is great news for the people of East Sussex and our local health and care system.”
- Companies:
- Sussex Partnership
- University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust
- Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
