‘Critical need’: MP urges action as Trust warns of delays to vital mental health centre in Antrim

The Northern Health and Social Care Trust’s planned new £143m mental health facility in Antrim remains at a standstill without confirmation of capital funding, board members have been told.

Dr Petra Corr,  divisional director of mental health, learning disability and community well-being, told the Trust board, at a meeting on Thursday morning, that South Antrim MP Robin Swann, former health minister, has highlighted the issue at Westminster.

Dr Corr said Mr Swann told the House of Commons of “a critical need” for Birch Hill. She said the Trust is not able to proceed to stage four of the development process without confirmation of funding.

Dr Corr told members Health Minister Mike Nesbitt visited Antrim’s Holywell Hospital recently and was “very positive” about plans for Birch Hill.

She noted recent success for designs submitted to a mental health conference, which she said, “confirms the quality of the work gone into the project already”.

She described Holywell Hospital as “significantly ageing and a cause of concern for us”.

In March, Dr Corr told Trust board members the proposal around the timeline of the building was the Trust would be receiving the building for commission on 31 December 2029, which she noted, is a delay already.

Planning permission for Birch Hill Mental Health Centre, at Bush Road, in Antrim was approved by Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council last June. At the time, it was expected to be completed by late 2028.

A 134-bed development is being planned by the Trust to replace the existing Holywell Hospital, a mental health facility, in the town. The proposed new facility will also replace the Ross Thomson Unit, an 18-bed acute admission ward at Causeway Hospital, Coleraine.

The planned construction will comprise treatment wards, staff and visitor facilities, management and operational spaces, health and well-being facilities, external landscaping and gardens, car parking and servicing facilities.

Ground-floor en-suite rooms for patients have been designed to give direct access to safe outdoor space and facilitate ease of movement between departments. Links to nature and views towards the neighbouring countryside have been prioritised, to ensure the best possible environment to support recovery.

Meanwhile, no decision has been taken yet on the future of the Holywell Hospital premises which accommodate up to 400 staff members. It is a listed building which the Trust has a responsibility to maintain. 

Holywell Hospital was built in 1898 to accommodate 1,000 patients with three ‘Tobernaveen’ wards opening in the 1950s. Holywell Hospital has approximately 116 acute in-patient beds.

Anne O’Reilly, Trust board chair, described its environment for “vulnerable service users” as “intolerable and unacceptable”.

“It is high on our agenda as a Trust board to seek a decision. We need to know what is going to happen next,” she stated.