NHS officials have announced plans for a new 54-bed hospital for inpatient mental health services to be built on a site in North East Bexhill by March 2024, at cost of around £46 million.
Following a 12 week public consultation, members of the East Sussex Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) endorsed the plans at a meeting held this week (Thursday), following approval by NHS governing bodies.
In June, the NHS East Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SPFT) put forward a proposal to move mental health inpatient services at the Department of Psychiatry in Eastbourne District General Hospital to new facilities to be built on a different site, either in Bexhill or near Hailsham.
This proposal enables the local NHS to benefit from national funding being made available to eradicate dormitory accommodation in all inpatient services.
The public consultation into the proposals was held between June and September and hundreds of people made their views known, including service users, carers, families, representative groups, charities, politicians and members of the public.
Most people who responded to the consultation strongly supported the proposals, with the site in Mount View Street, North East Bexhill, being the preferred location.
There was also strong support for a long-term vision to create ‘campus’-style facilities on a single site to address all mental health inpatient needs across East Sussex for many years to come.
