New home for mentally ill opens in Mount Hawthorn

28/11/06
A new million-dollar mental health facility has opened its doors in Mount Hawthorn under a State Government program to provide hundreds of extra mental health beds throughout the State.
Health Minister Jim McGinty said the 16-bed 'step down' facility would provide a home for people recovering from acute mental illness before they returned to the community.
"Hawthorn House has been designed to provide a home-like environment for adults with mental health problems who do not need acute hospital care," Mr McGinty said.
"It will provide intensive recovery and rehabilitation for people with conditions such as depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
"The facility will be staffed by a specialist mental health team 24-hours a day, seven days a week to help people manage their illness before returning to live independently in their own homes.
"The first residents will move into Hawthorn House next week."
The Minister said $1million had been spent to convert the former hospital and aged care home into a specialised transitional housing facility for people with mental health problems.
The interior has been completely refurbished while the gardens have been landscaped and walls and hedges developed at the request of the community.
Mr McGinty said there had been significant community consultation about the project, which had led to design changes and assurances that patients with a significant history of violence or drug abuse would not be eligible to stay.
"With an estimated one in five adults suffering a mental illness in their lifetime it is vital that communities get behind these projects," he said.
"Hawthorn House is one of a number of new facilities planned to meet the growing demand for community-based accommodation for people with a mental illness.
"The State Government has committed $173million to progressively increase the number of beds available for mental health patients.
"We are building a range of accommodation facilities for people with mental health problems, including 'step-down' facilities such as Hawthorn House, staffed cluster-style homes, group homes and residential units.
"All up we will be providing an extra 400 community-based places and an additional 108 inpatient beds.
"Eight of these inpatient beds recently opened at Armadale Hospital and in the coming months, an extra 20 mental health beds will become available which includes 12 secure beds at Graylands Hospital."
In the last two years, an additional 232 mental health staff had been employed which included 34 mental health nurses, psychiatric registrars and psychiatrists in hospital emergency departments.
Mr McGinty said Hawthorn House would house mental health patients until a new facility was built on the Joondalup Health Campus within three years.
Minister's office - 9422 3000