Work on new mental health facility at Taranaki Base Hospital getting underway
5 June 2024
Work on a stand-alone mental health facility at Taranaki Base Hospital in New Plymouth is getting underway this month.
“The new facility has been designed to enable us to deliver clinical care and rehabilitation services that better meet the needs of some of our mental health patients,” says Gillian Campbell, Health New Zealand │ Te Whatu Ora Group Director of Operations in Taranaki, and the senior responsible officer for the project.
“Currently our Taranaki mental health and addiction specialist service supports around 5,000 people at different stages of their mental health journey. However, for a small number of people, that journey is more challenging.
That is where this new facility will add real value, enabling us to provide patients with an extra step on their journey.
Once complete, the facility and its four short to medium-term stay bedrooms, each with an ensuite, will be a place where patients can be based while they learn or re-learn the everyday skills needed to transition to independent living back in the community.”
In addition to the bedrooms the facility will also have:
- an activities room
- a whānau room
- kitchen, dining, and living rooms.
The project is one of 16 within HNZ’s Mental Health Infrastructure Programme, and is a continuation of the wider mental health upgrade at Taranaki Base Hospital, and as the Project Maunga Hospital Redevelopment Programme continues.
An area within the Hospital campus near the Tukapa Street entrance will be redeveloped to accommodate the building.
The site has been blessed by Taumaruroa - Ngāti Te Whiti and the eight iwi of Taranaki, to acknowledge the site’s history and to prepare it for its new purpose.
Construction will take 12 months and is expected to be completed in 2025.
Exterior image of the new mental health facility to be built at Taranaki Base Hospital.
Interior image of the new mental health facility to be built at Taranaki Base Hospital.
Last updated: Friday, June 7, 2024