On 1 March North London Mental Health Partnership marked the handover of Highgate East, a new NHS mental health inpatient building on the Camden, Haringey and Islington border, which the Partnership says will help it achieve its vision for ‘Better Mental Health. Better Communities. Better Lives’.
The Partnership – which brings together Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust and Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust – says Highgate East has a ‘cutting- edge design’, co-developed with service-users, carers, staff, and the wider community. Its 78 single en-suite rooms replace ‘ageing inpatient facilities’ at St Pancras Hospital in Camden, providing a purpose-built environment which will support service-user recovery and significantly improve staff’s working lives.
The Partnership said: “The new building has outdoor space from each ward, therapy spaces, a sports hall, and a new community café. It is fully wheelchair accessible, and located next to the Whittington Hospital, meaning that the physical health needs of our service-users can also be supported.
Jinjer Kandola MBE, CEO of NLMHP, said: “The mental health inpatient services moving to Highgate East are currently based at St Pancras Hospital, in buildings never designed to provide modern-day mental health care. Through our St Pancras Transformation Programme, we are delivering new therapeutic environments for service-users and carers, and improved working environments for our staff.
Chief Medical Officer, Dr Vincent Kirchner, added: “The new hospital will make a difference. Having a therapeutic environment will mean people recover better, and will be more comfortable. Having bright spaces, good circulation, and being able to control the temperature of one’s bedroom, will definitely help people get better, faster."
Nicky Baker, one of the service-users involved in the design process, said seeing the building ‘brought a tear’ to her eye. She said: “It is so lovely – I'm going round saying: ‘Oh you put this in, you put that in’ – they've actually listened to us, which to me is a great feeling.”