A new £17.9m mental health unit for children and young people has opened in Bournemouth.
The building was designed by Medical Architecture and constructed by Kier Construction.
Planning approval was granted in 2023, with construction beginning in 2024.
The facility, called Seastone, has been developed by Dorset HealthCare and will provide specialist inpatient treatment for patients aged 13 to 18 with severe mental health conditions requiring intensive support.
The facility includes 8 inpatient beds, day spaces, a two-classroom school facility, treatment spaces, a tribunal room, seclusion room, de-escalation room, sensory rooms, family visiting facilities, and an extra-care suite.
Located at the trust's child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) site on Alumhurst Road, the eight-bed unit has been designed to care for young people whose needs cannot be met within standard CAMHS inpatient settings.
The development forms part of a wider £70.6m investment in mental health infrastructure across Dorset and was funded through the government's New Hospital Programme.
Chaddesley House, at St Ann’s Hospital in Poole, was also constructed by Kier and opened earlier this month to increase capacity and enhance services for local adults needing intensive treatment.
“We’re delighted to see the opening of the Alumhurst Road children’s mental health unit as part of the New Hospital Programme, which will provide excellent care and new child and adolescent mental services for the South West,” said Charlotte Taylor CBE, Joint Senior Responsible Officer for the New Hospital Programme.
