Health Infrastructure is delivering the Statewide Mental Health Infrastructure Program (SWMHIP) as part of the NSW Government’s commitment to mental health infrastructure reform.
OVERVIEW
The SWMHIP is a NSW Government initiative designed to support the delivery of mental healthcare reform across the state.
The SWMHIP will help to address statewide gaps in inpatient services including mothers and their babies, children and adolescents, older persons and forensic patients. It will also provide facilities for patients to transition or receive care in the community.
The NSW Government is investing $700 million in the SWMHIP.
BENEFITS
The SWMHIP will provide a substantial increase in available inpatient beds in the NSW mental health system, providing at a minimum 167 new inpatient beds, 134 replacement beds and a minimum of 49 refurbished beds.
The SWMHIP also seeks to support transition of long stay consumers with complex care needs to community-based services by delivering approximately 230 community beds in partnership with community managed organisations (CMOs).
In addition, the SWMHIP is improving the therapeutic environment of a large number of facilities across NSW.
This will result in:
- Better mental health, physical health and wellbeing outcomes for mental health consumers
- Improved patient and carer satisfaction through delivery of patient centred and recovery-oriented care
- Increased access to appropriate care
- Reduction in number of long stay patients in NSW mental health facilities
- 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
- Addressing service gaps to provide appropriate care and meet future demand
- Improved patient and staff safety (workplace health and safety, seclusion incidents).
SCOPE
The SWMHIP includes a range of projects including the Therapeutic Environment Program (TEP), and individual capital projects.
Together these projects will deliver new statewide specialist mental health units including beds for:
- Children and adolescents
- Perinatal and post-natal mothers and their babies
- Older persons
- General inpatient and civil secure units
- The transition of long stay mental health patients from hospital, and the recovery of consumers, in the community
- The forensic mental health network.
RELATED DOCUMENTS
For more information, please contact the program team
HI-SWMHIP@health.nsw.gov.au.