Dorset child psychiatric unit may end long travel from home

Currently some children with severe mental health problems have to be treated outside of Dorset

Children with serious mental health needs may be able to be cared for closer to home after plans were submitted for a new psychiatric intensive care unit.

Dorset HealthCare wants to build an eight-bed inpatient unit at Alumhurst Road in Bournemouth.

A previous bid for the facility was rejected in 2018, but a new design has sought to address local concerns.

The project is part of the government's New Hospitals Programme.

Children have long been forced to travel often hundreds of miles to seek treatment for severe mental health conditions.

Kay Kelsall's daughter Phoebe was one of them when she had to leave her Weymouth home because of her autism during her teenage years.

'Upsetting'

Mrs Kelsall said she and her husband clocked up 29,000 miles driving around the country to visit their daughter in units in Bury, near Manchester, Ticehurst in East Sussex and Woking, Surrey.

"We were lucky, our employers were unwaveringly supportive and we could afford to travel. But what about those single mothers with other children?" the 60-year-old said.

Phoebe, who is now 23 and studying for a degree at university, said being so far from home had a big impact.

"I was lucky because my parents came to visit me, but for those who only got visits once a month it was really challenging. It was upsetting at times," she added.

Mrs Kelsall said having a local psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) would have made a difference.

"For Phoebe it would have meant she didn't need a six or seven-hour trip to Bury in a minibus with guards," she added.

Dorset HealthCare's Rachel Small said getting permission for the Bournemouth unit would be a "huge step forward".

"It would mean for the first time we can provide PICU care locally, rather than send young people to units outside of Dorset. Having a strong public backing would undoubtedly help our case," Ms Small said.

Dorset HealthCare, which provides community health services across Dorset, Bournemouth, Poole and Southampton, has been allocated £67m for two new mental health building schemes.

Draft proposals for the second project, a new adult inpatient facility at St Ann's Hospital in Poole, will be go before neighbouring residents later this month.

The public can comment on the application via Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council's website until 18 November.