New service opens at Priory Hospital East Midlands in response to national and regional mental health crisis
Date: 18th July 2024
Priory Hospital East Midlands has expanded its acute mental health service to support people in the region as the number of people requiring treatment continues to rise.
Premature mortality rates in adults with severe mental illness is higher in the East Midlands than any other region of the UK, while emergency hospital admission rates for patients who have self-harmed are also significantly higher than the national average.
The new Opal Ward at the hospital is a specialist inpatient service where individuals experiencing severe, short-term episodes of mental illness can receive urgent treatment in a safe environment.
The nine-bed ward will be available to patients referred by the NHS who are in serious mental distress and cannot be managed by community services. The specialist Opal Ward team at Priory Hospital East Midlands includes psychologists, occupational therapists, psychiatrists, nurses and healthcare assistants.
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Priory Hospital East Midlands, located between Nottingham and Mansfield, is a specialist acute and psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) service for adults.
Kevin Mafukidze, hospital director at Priory Hospital East Midlands, said: “We’re proud to have expanded our acute services at a time of great need for the communities we service, with the new ward offering round-the-clock support for people suffering a mental health crisis, and additional capacity to our NHS partners. Our specialist inpatient acute teams are able to support people with complex mental health needs, anxiety, depression or psychosis, in safe and highly therapeutic environments.”
Rebekah Cresswell, Priory chief executive officer, said: “It has been an honour to meet patients and highly dedicated colleagues at Priory Hospital East Midlands today as we open this new service.
“It is crucial that people suffering from acute mental health crises receive the right support at the right time, as they work towards a return to health, so they can live their life. This new facility provides critical extra capacity to NHS mental health services, and so enables more people to access the timely, specialist care and treatment they urgently need, while also providing continuity of care for patients and their families.”
ENDS
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About Priory and MEDIAN Group
Priory is the UK’s largest independent provider of mental health and adult social care services. Priory treats more than 70 conditions, including depression, anxiety, addictions and eating disorders, as well as children’s mental health, across its nationwide network of sites. Priory also supports autistic adults and adults with a learning disability, Prader-Willi Syndrome and brain injuries, as well as older people, within specialist residential care and supported living facilities – helping as many people as possible to live their lives.
Priory is part of the MEDIAN Group, the leading European provider of high-quality mental health and rehabilitation services. The MEDIAN Group comprises: Priory in the UK with 290 facilities and 5,000 beds caring for 28,000 people, MEDIAN in Germany with 120 facilities and 20,000 beds caring for around 250,000 patients, and Hestia in Spain with 15 facilities and 2,100 beds caring for 11,000 people in Spain, with more than 29,000 employees across the group.