OVERVIEW
The Mother and Baby Unit at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital is a purpose-built, 8-bed unit providing holistic, specialist multidisciplinary care to new mothers experiencing perinatal mental illness.
Named ‘Naamuru’ – a local Aboriginal dialect word meaning ‘leading the way’ – the Mother and Baby Unit is the first publicly available unit of its kind in NSW that will care for up to 120 new mothers from across the state each year who require specialist inpatient mental health services.
Located at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital campus, the Mother and Baby Unit is part of the $700 million Statewide Mental Health Infrastructure Program (SWMHIP). The Program is the single biggest investment in mental health infrastructure in NSW to date, delivering more and better co-designed facilities for people with mental health needs, their families, carers and staff.
Women with lived experience of perinatal mental health, families, carers and health professionals helped to co-design the unit to ensure an all-inclusive, patient-centred centred service that meets the needs of those using the facility.
BENEFITS
The Mother and Baby Unit provides:
- Better mental health, physical health and wellbeing outcomes to mothers and their infants
- Improved patient and carer satisfaction through delivery of patient-centred and recovery-oriented care
- Increased access to appropriate care
- Enhanced capacity and improved efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of mental health services
- The delivery of infrastructure that is co-designed by consumers, their family, carers and staff
- Appropriate care that meets gaps in service gaps
SCOPE
The unit includes:
- Eight bedrooms with an ensuite bathroom to accommodate mothers, up to two infants under 12-months of age and a partner or family member
- Therapeutic spaces including including group/activity rooms, gym, baby care room and a retreat
- Communal areas including lounges, dining and kitchen areas, outdoor courtyards and play areas
- Patient consult rooms.
Construction commenced in October 2020 and was completed in May 2022.
This project was delivered by Sydney Local Health District in partnership with Health Infrastructure’s Statewide Mental Health Infrastructure Program (SWMHIP) team.