Over the past couple of years, the Ipswich community has watched as a new, state-of-the-art building has taken shape.
Now, the purpose-built Mental Health Acute Inpatient Service has opened its doors to give residents in one of the fastest growing health regions in Queensland access to a range of support and healthcare services.
The facility features open spaces, a rooftop courtyard, internal green spaces, recreation areas, gymnasium, table tennis and barbecue facilities to encourage social interaction with staff and visitors.
It’s not just the patients who benefit. West Moreton Health staff appreciate working in a secure, modern building designed to promote patient wellbeing and recovery.
West Moreton Health Chief Executive Hannah Bloch said the service began accepting patients in November.
"Our community deserves world-class services, and you can see by looking around that it’s a calming environment with lots of natural light,” Ms Bloch said.
“It’s all part of the Ipswich Hospital expansion. We need more beds, more services, and more buildings as the community grows."
"The removal of the old mental health building frees up space for us to move forward with the next stage of our expansion.”
Consumers and community representatives, including First Nations Elders, were consulted throughout the design and construction phases to ensure the design was culturally and socially inclusive.
“We want to offer a safe environment for First Nations peoples,” Ms Bloch said.
“We invited community members to be involved in the design here and their input is built into the fabric of the service. You can see it all through the building, from artwork to bush tucker areas to yarning circles. These elements are incredibly important to First Nations peoples in the West Moreton region.”
The reaction to the facility from staff and patients has been nothing but positive from the day the doors opened.
“The quality of the rooms and the environment, such as breakout rooms to work on programs, a gymnasium, having that ability to look out at the world … we’ve really been able to focus on wellbeing and recovery for those who use this service,” she said.
“We’ve seen the difference in our patients as they are responding to this incredibly calming environment.”
Ms Bloch said the health infrastructure being created in West Moreton now will support the delivery of quality healthcare in the future.
“Our challenge is always ‘what comes next’,” Ms Bloch said.
“Early works have now started on the $710 million acute services building at Ipswich Hospital which will deliver an extra 200 beds, a new and expanded emergency department and new operating theatres by 2028."
“We are making a huge investment in models of care, infrastructure and recruitment to support our community in the years to come.”
If you require mental health support, no matter where you live, help is available 24/7 on 1300 MH CALL (1300 64 2255).
Published with permission from Queensland Health Newsroom; titled Making Mental Health a priority