Stobhill Hospital wins award for mental health wards

The Elgin and Appin wards at Stobhill Hospital are purpose-built, acute mental health wards.

This unique facility aims to help social inclusion by delivering rehabilitation, discharge and recovery services that promote independence and self-reliance.

Health bosses wanted to provide welcoming and non-clinical spaces that give dignity to patients and increase equality.

David Ross, Project Director at Glasgow-based Keppie Design, said: “We wanted to create the best healing environment for patients and good working areas for staff and we feel that all of our aspirations have been achieved, resulting in an extremely successful project.

"We’re delighted that the building has had an immediate and positive impact on those for whom it was created, and that it has been recognised by our industry for setting new standards in design quality.”

Last month we told how Glasgow Royal Infirmary had been named the top hospital in Scotland by US magazine Newsweek.

It then went on to win the Golden Hip Award in recognition of its excellence in the care of patients who experience a hip fracture.

Single-story wards at Stobhill are planned around calming courtyards framing views of an existing Victorian water tower.

Delivered through the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the necessity for enhanced mental health facilities is now more urgent than ever with an anticipated rise in the need for mental health services.

The £10.6 million development, a partnership between Hub West Scotland and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, which opened in September 2020, has won Healthcare Development of the Year Awards 2021 for both the Scottish Design Awards and the Scottish Property Awards.

The wards each provide a 20-bed adult ward and a 20-bed ward for elderly patients.

The wards are designed to make best use of natural light and greenspace to provide a calm and healing environment, while the brick in the buildings reflect the heritage of the site, which dates back to 1904 when it opened as a poor law hospital treating destitute citizens.

Tom Steele, Director of Facilities and Estates at NHSGGC, said: “From the outset, we wanted these wards to provide access to the most effective and safe care and treatment for our patients and we have more than met that brief.

“Thanks to our partners at Hub West Scotland and Keppie, the design provides an oasis of calm, which allows for excellence in care, in a stunning, natural environment.

"We’re delighted to have won this award and I want to thank everyone who was involved in the design, commissioning and construction, not least the patients and staff in our engagement groups.”

Ian Marley, Chief Executive of Hub West Scotland, added: “We are delighted to have partnered with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde on this, the ninth project we have delivered together.

"The design of the new facilities has been carefully considered to create a range of beautiful internal and external spaces that support the delivery of specialist and therapeutic services.

"We are thrilled that the quality of the design and its construction has been recognised.”