Hundred jobs created at new Shropshire mental health site
A new mental health centre in Shropshire will create more than 100 jobs and has been completed £1 million under budget.
The £46 million Redwoods Centre, in Bicton Heath, Shrewsbury, will replace Shelton Hospital when it takes its first patients on September 23.
Up to 400 staff from the existing hospital will transfer over and 100 new positions will be created at the 10-acre site, which opened today to the public. South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is behind the project.
The trust today said the cash from the underspend can be pumped into local services.
The centre will provide 80 adult mental health beds for Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin, and 23 low secure beds for the West Midlands.
Andrew Hughes, project director for the Redwood Centre, said: "The three key targets in a scheme such as this: Can we build it to the quality expected?; Can we open it on time?; and Can we deliver it on budget? I am pleased to say it has cost £1 million less than we originally thought. This means we can invest the money in other areas.
"About 100 new jobs are being created in the new building as well as out in the community. Over the last 18 months construction work using mainly local contractors has also been very good for the economy."
He added: "Eighty of the new beds will be for Shropshire people who require in-patient care and will cover a range of conditions such as depression and schizo- phrenia. It will see five lots of 16 beds and each of these is a self-contained unit with their own garden. It is almost like a series of homes but with lots of open space."
It will provide separate areas of treatment for people with acute mental health needs. There will be a bistro, spiritual centre, library and pharmacy.
Health bosses said it marked the 'modernisation' of mental health care in Shropshire.
