15 mental health beds are expected to reopen at Burnie’s North West Regional Hospital next month, after a fire forced the closure of its Spencer Clinic.
Engineers have found 10 rooms in the damaged clinic can be used again once repairs are finished, Health Minister Bridget Archer said today.
The minister said the repairs would create a four-bed high care unit and a six-bed acute inpatient unit within the clinic’s existing footprint.
Another five sub-acute mental health beds are being set up elsewhere on the hospital campus.
“… We are expecting all 15 beds to be available next month,” Archer said.
Some public mental health patients are being cared for at the private hospital next door through a three-bed public-private partnership.
Archer said the state government was working with that hospital to find ways to increase bed numbers.
In a social media post, Premier Jeremy Rockliff said the changes would mean “no loss of mental health beds on the coast” and “should mean an increased capacity”.
The government has also awarded a $40 million contract to Vos Construction to build a 22-bed mental health precinct at the hospital to replace the Spencer Clinic.
Rockliff said work could start as early as next week and the government would work with the builder to speed up the project “wherever possible”.
The clinic was damaged by fire on September 19, when the 19-bed unit was full.
A 28-year-old north-west woman has been charged with arson over the fire.
Archer thanked staff who she said had been “working tirelessly” since the fire to keep mental health care available for north-west patients.
Rockliff said it had been “a really tough event” for staff and patients.
“But let me tell you, the way in which they have responded has been extraordinary,” he said.
