Plans submitted for a multi-million pound mental health facility in Boston

The trust has applied to Boston Borough Council to build a 19-bed adult acute inpatient mental health unit on the former Norton Lea site on London Road.

Documents said the new hub will deliver “therapeutic and calming environments” for both male and female patients with associated therapy, living, support and staff welfare facilities.

The construction will be part single-storey and part two-storey with patient accommodation on the ground floor level.

Images of the proposed new facility show extensive landscaped gardens and outdoor spaces.

The trust said its current Department of Psychiatry facility, located in Pilgrim Hospital was “not fit for purpose”.

“The layout of the scheme is orientated around patient quality of life and experience,” said the design and access statement.

“With service users potentially using this building for a long period of time, making sure it was a comfortable, safe environment was of up most importance.”

LPFT has been upgrading the adult acute mental health inpatient provision in both Lincoln and Boston in recent years.

In 2017, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said the use of dormitory-style shared sleeping accommodation on mental health wards were no longer suitable in mental health ward environments, as they didn’t promote privacy, dignity or recovery.

A series of consultation events around the plans took place earlier this year.

Alan Pattison, programme lead from Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LPFT) at the time said: “We want to improve privacy and dignity standards for people who use our services.

“We’ve co-designed the building with experts, healthcare professionals and construction experts, so we’re confident we will create a therapeutic space for those who receive care from us.

“We hope by building at Norton Lea, we will also be able to co-locate other mental health support services, making it a real support hub for the people of Boston.”