Costing Mental Health Facilities
The mental health landscape is changing, and models of care evolving to provide early and timely support to more people with mental health conditions in home or community settings. Healthcare expert Jonathan Puddle and Wendy de Silva, architect and mental health lead for IBI Group, examine the new facilities and cost-effective approaches needed to fulfil today’s mental healthcare requirements.
One in four people will experience a diagnosable mental health problem in any given year. The human and societal costs of those affected are immeasurable and the economic costs startling. All are equally unsustainable. Mental health problems represent the largest single cause of disability in the UK with an estimated cost to the economy of £105 billion a year.
Simon Stevens, Chief Executive of NHS England, commissioned a report by the independent Mental Health Taskforce that resulted in The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, published in February 2016. The report identifies that a step change is needed to deliver improved access to high-quality care, more integrated services and a focus on prevention coupled with earlier interventions.
A coordinated and cohesive local approach
The implementation of The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health requires a coordinated and cohesive local approach. The responsibility for developing local plans lies with the Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships that were formed between local councils and the NHS across England in 2016 to develop integrated proposals to improve health and care.
Our mental health cost model report explores the evolving mental health landscape and government policy as the NHS is challenged to care for people with complex issues across the age spectrum, from young children through to older members of the population. It covers design guidance and technical standards, design considerations, lifecycle priorities, key cost drivers and a cost model based on a new-build 49-bed adult acute mental health facility in south-east England.
View and download the cost model here.