Dublin's Central Mental Hospital has switched to a bigger, €200 million facility.

    

The HSE officially opened the National Forensic Mental Health Service (NFMHS) campus today containing the relocated Central Mental Hospital which moved from Dundrum to Portrane in north county Dublin.

The new facility could provide care for 130 patients, and has capacity to care for 170 patients on campus when fully-operational in the future, as well as community and prison in-reach services. 

It will cost in the neighbourhood of €200 million to move the Central Mental Hospital (CMH) from Victorian-era structures in Dundrum to a more modern facility.

The hospital also houses an intensive care rehabilitation unit (ICRU) and the Forensic Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (FCAMHS).

Only the CMH in the nation offers specialised forensic psychiatric care for short-, medium-, and long-term psychiatric care.

130 single patient rooms are available at the new facility, which is set up in compact wards around communal indoor and outdoor areas where group activities and therapies are conducted.

Patients have direct access to nature from each ward through a sequence of courtyards and protected surrounding gardens, while a "village centre" offers shared recreational amenities like a horticulture area, a gym, a woodworking workshop, and a music room.

Additionally, a GP office and a dentist are located in the village centre.

Today's official opening was addressed by Minister of Health Stephen Donnelly, who said the following:

"For the Irish healthcare system, today is a momentous and historic day. Some of the most vulnerable members in our society experience actual and required change thanks to this great new facility. This introduction reaffirms the Government's commitment to provide this vulnerable population with healthcare based on the same values, principles, and procedures as the rest of society.

Aside from providing five clusters of forensic mental health treatment, the by-the-sea NFMHS will also provide a Pre-discharge Unit, Female Unit, Mental Health Intellectual Disability Unit (MHID-F), High Secure Unit, and Medium Secure Unit.

The institution intends to enhance the number of high and medium security beds in accordance with international comparisons and to ensure that patients are living in accommodations appropriate to their needs, risks, and modern healthcare standards.

Reduced expenses for the HSE's other services, prisons, and patient placement in the UK were another objective of the relocation.

HSE CEO Stephen Mulvany said the following during the launch:

"It gives me great pleasure to be present on this historic day. The National Forensic Mental Health Service raises the Dundrum site's capacity from 96 patients to 110 beds initially, with a subsequent increase to 130 beds scheduled for 2023.

The Intensive Rehabilitation Care Units (ICRU) are scheduled to debut in 2023 and will treat 30 patients who need specific therapies. This development will guide the strategic deployment of a number of other facilities across the country.

According to Mary Butler TD, Minister of State for Mental Health & Older People, the new campus would be "one of the most cutting-edge forensic mental health facilities in Europe," continuing:

With the new 10-bed forensic CAMHS unit, which I hope to see implemented as soon as possible, we now have new opportunity to provide the best quality care and outcomes for some of Ireland's most complex and vulnerable mental health cases.