A £4.4 million purpose-built facility designed to care for some of Fife’s most vulnerable patients has opened its doors at Stratheden Hospital.
The eight-bedded Intensive Psychiatric Care Unit (IPCU) replaces an existing unit housed in a Victorian building on the western edge of the hospital site near Cupar.
Lesley Tweedie, clinical service manager, said: “We recognised that to deliver the standard of facility our patients deserved, we needed to ensure that patients with experience of our IPCU informed the design. A group of current and former patients were thus asked to identify the features that would be important to them at the point where they are most unwell. The feedback, coupled with comments from a similar staff focus group, was presented to the architects, and almost all of it encompassed in the finished build.”
A key theme was greater privacy than was afforded within the previous unit, where patients shared bedrooms; they now have their own single bedroom with en suiteshower room.
Kingsway Group’s ‘Swing’ anti-barricade doorsets provide a safe, non-institutional solution, with the ‘unique’ Swing leaf and half anti-barricade system used for the DDA bedrooms to provide increased access width.
A new central courtyard offers outdoor space to exercise or relax and enjoy some fresh air, while provision of private rooms means patients can spend time with visiting friends and relatives. Limitations of the old IPCU meant patients could only spend such time in the communal dining area. There is also a new IT suite, an art and music room, a group therapy room, a gym, and a relaxation area.
Architects were Oberlanders, and the main contractors, Graham Construction.