Funding urgency: Mike Nesbitt pressed to back new £143m Birch Hill mental health facility in Antrim
- Michelle Weir (Local Democracy Reporter)
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
CGI: Aerial overview of proposed new Birch Hill mental health facility at Antrim Area Hospital
Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has been urged to come up with the finance needed for the new £143 million Birch Hill mental health facility at Bush Road in Antrim.
The planned development has reached a standstill without confirmation of capital funding.
The Northern Health and Social Care Trust had been due to receive the building for commissioning on 31 December 2029, which already represents a delay from the original schedule.
Dr Petra Corr, Divisional Director of Mental Health, Learning Disability and Community Wellbeing, told a meeting of the Northern Trust Board at Antrim Hospital on Thursday:
“There is a budget context of concern for us.”
Dr Corr indicated that the Trust has requested that “enabling works” be carried out on-site in order to be ready to progress the development if funding is made available by the Department of Health.
“The Minister has continued to voice his support for the mental health service, and we would be keen to see that carried through in actions,” she added.
CGI: Courtyard view of proposed new Birch Hill mental health facility at Antrim Area Hospital
Planning permission for the Birch Hill Mental Health Centre was approved by Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council in June last year. At the time, completion was expected by late 2028.
The Trust’s proposed 134-bed facility is intended to replace the existing Holywell Hospital in Antrim and the Ross Thomson Unit, an 18-bed acute admission ward at Causeway Hospital in Coleraine.
The development will include treatment wards, staff and visitor facilities, management and operational spaces, health and wellbeing areas, landscaped gardens, car parking, and servicing facilities.
Ground-floor en-suite patient rooms have been designed to provide direct access to safe outdoor spaces and enable easy movement between departments. Connections to nature and views of the surrounding countryside have been prioritised to create an environment that supports recovery.
No decision has yet been made on the future of the Holywell Hospital premises, which currently accommodate around 400 staff members.
The listed building, constructed in 1898 to house 1,000 patients, includes three Tobernaveen wards added in the 1950s. Holywell Hospital currently provides approximately 116 acute in-patient beds.