The province is spending $1.4 million dollars to create a new 10 bed mental health day hospital in Halifax.
It will open in April, inside the QEII Health Sciences Centre.
Brian Comer, Minister responsible for the Office of Addictions and Mental Health, says patients who need intensive mental health treatment will use the hospital during the day, but return home in the evenings.
“For some people, the supports provided at a community mental health clinic aren’t enough, but intensive inpatient psychiatric care isn’t the answer,” he says. “The day hospital will address this gap and ensure that people can get appropriate care while staying closely connected with their family and community.”
Comer says people suffering from mental illness need access to appropriate supports and treatments.
The province has hired a new psychiatrist to oversee the hospital’s nursing staff and social workers.
Comer says, while the hospital is slated to open with 10 beds, they are hoping to expand to 20 spaces once they’ve worked out the kinks.
The hospital is designed to improve access for people with intense psychiatric symptoms, but who don’t need 24-hour inpatient care.
Comer says it’ll also reduce the number of overnight hospital admissions which, in turn, will ease pressures on inpatient psychiatric units and the broader healthcare system, without compromising care for severely mentally ill people.
The average stay for a patient is expected to last two weeks.
The hospital has an estimated yearly cost of $1 million.
