WATCH: Jersey's new mental health ward set to open next week

Tuesday 18 June 2024

Mental health services are due to move into a long-awaited new facility at the end of next week after years of waiting for an upgrade for the "dilapidated" Orchard House.

Patients are set to move into the 16 en-suite rooms at the redeveloped Clinique Pinel in St Saviour next Thursday 27 June.

The project was originally slated to cost almost £7.3m, but the final estimated cost is around £10.7m due to additional upgrading works.

WATCH: Mental Health Director Andy Weir and mental health advocate Patricia Winchester talk about the new facility.

The so-called “place of safety” Article 36 suite for patients detained under mental health law will not open until the end of July.

Currently, detained patients are held either in the Emergency Department or in police cells.

At Clinique Pinel, an on-site tribunal room, run by the courts, will allow the court system to review whether patients should continue to be detained.

The facility also includes an intensive care area as well as a seclusion room.

The new centre will replace Orchard House, which currently houses 15 patients and has been the home of Jersey’s mental health wards since 2007.

A scathing 2019 Scrutiny report criticised “unwelcoming” mental health facilities and described Orchard House as “dilapidated” and “uninviting”, with rooms that “felt like prison cells”.

Then-Health Minister Richard Renouf made the decision to move to a more modern facility at Clinique Pinel – a move that was originally scheduled for the end of 2020 but has been repeatedly delayed.

The new ward is named Orchard Ward, and shares a building with Cedar Ward – which houses mental health patients over 65.

Pictured: Andy Weir, Director of Mental Health and Adult Social Care.

“The plan is to move everybody in one day from Orchard House,” explained Mental Health Director Andy Weir.

“That means the seclusion room will become operational, the intensive care area will become operational.

“Then we’ll have a pause and let everybody settle a bit because it is very different.

“So we’ll have a pause of about three to four weeks, we’ve got some joint training planned in mid-July with the police.

“Then we will look to open the Article 36 suite at the end of July.”

Pictured: One of the en-suite rooms at Clinique Pinel.

The refurbished corridors at the new facility can be partitioned according to the service’s needs – allowing, for example, young people aged 16-18 to be separated from adults without losing access to communal areas.

A similar principle applies in the dining room, which can be separated into two parts to tackle any difficulties that may arise during meal times.

Indoors, the facility holds rooms for patients to relax and socialise as well as take part in activities such as art therapy.

Patients also have access to two courtyards – one with gym equipment, and one which is set to be used for gardening and vegetable growing.

A kitchen allows patients to work on becoming more independent – and has, in the past, proven popular with patients.

Pictured: Mr Weir described Clinique Pinel's intensive care area as “a real improvement from Orchard House”.

Mr Weir described the intensive care area as “a real improvement from Orchard House”.

Seclusion rooms and the Article 36 suite will allow staff to oversee the most vulnerable patients at all times.

Most patients stay on the regular ward, however, Mr Weir explained that in the past year the seclusion room was used between five to ten times.

Those who use the seclusion room don’t normally stay for more than 24 hours.

“If someone needed a room like this for a long time, we would refer them to a secure service in the UK,” he added.

Rooms are en-suite and have chalkboards on the walls, which Patricia Winchester, the head of the charity My Voice – which represents mental health patients in Jersey – described as popular with patients.

Mr Weir was optimistic about staffing, describing how eight or nine staff members would be on duty on each shift.

“It’s quite a big team," he said. "It’s certainly bigger than I’m used to, and we’re lucky that we have been able to recruit some more senior nurses."

But some positions remain open and the department is still somewhat reliant on agency workers, he added.

Pictured: Patricia Winchester, head of charity My Voice, described the new facility as "an awful lot better than what we have at the moment".

Ms Winchester praised the new facility, but admitted it was "not perfect" as it had needed to keep the layout of the old building.

"It is an awful lot better than what we have at the moment," she said.

"This is bright and spacious, there are purpose-designed areas for activities, every patient will have their own bedroom and en-suite.

"There are separate areas for males and females, which is something that sometimes can be quite important."

She also stressed the importance of being able to separate under-18s from adults, and of having an on-site "place of safety" or Article 36 suite, where patients detained under mental health legislation can be held and assessed for detention.

Pictured top: An activity room at Orchard Ward. (Rob Currie)