£6m hospital unit to open (From Penarth Times)

£6m hospital unit to open

A NEW 6.1 million mental health unit is set to open at Llandough Hospital.

The purpose-built unit, which has been named Llanfair, will provide care for sufferers of depression, manic depression and schizophrenia.

Patients will be treated using a range of therapies in two new wards, each with 38 beds and a therapy suite.

One ward will serve the Vale of Glamorgan, the other will have an intake from Riverside, Grangetown and Butetown.

Llanfair was chosen as the new name because it is Welsh for St Mary's, the name of the former hospital on the site.

Llanfair, which officially opens on July 30, will provide much-needed extra capacity following the closure of two wards at Whitchurch Hospital in Cardiff and a unit at the old Sully hospital.

It will be staffed by 66 full-time equivalents.

Simone Joslyn, Llanfair project manager, said: "Our primary aim is to help the patients to reintegrate into society when they leave us.

"This means we work very closely with the community mental health teams and the home treatment teams.

"The building is covered completely by CCTV but the patients that will be coming here are not high-risk.

"Our activity nurses try to provide the patients with a structured day. The activities programme ranges from visits outside of the unit to solving puzzles.

"There is also vocational input and a range of therapies, including relaxation therapy, occupational therapy, art therapy, physiotherapy and dietetics."

Martin Gossage, head of occupational therapy at Llanfair, said: "Our therapists work with individuals and with groups. Occupational therapy aims to equip the patients with key life skills and is designed to foster self-care and independence.

"It includes cooking and leisure activities and work on relationships. It aims to make the patients feel as though they are being productive and making a positive contribution."

Schizophrenia is a disabling mental illness where disordered thinking disturbs an individual's ability to function normally in society.

It is equally common in men and women, usually occurring between the ages of 18 and 25 in men and 26 and 45 in women.

In bipolar disorder or manic depression the mood swings aren't like the normal highs and lows of daily life.

It is characterised by extreme mood swings, from deep depression to extreme elation.