A new £20 million specialist mental health in-patient facility for people with learning disabilities and autistic people is opening this week.
The Kingfisher, based at Blackberry Hill in Bristol, will be officially opened on Thursday 24 September, with local MP Damien Egan attending to meet staff.
The new facility has been designed to care for individuals across the south west with a learning disability and autistic people, who would benefit from specialist mental health treatment in an in-patient setting, when their needs can’t be met at home or in a mainstream mental health hospital.
The Kingfisher aims to greatly the reduce the need for long-distance placements for patients and for their families, friends, and carers – and goes hand-in-hand with improvements to community care and support of individuals with a learning disability and autistic people so they can live healthier, happier lives at, or closer to, home. The new outreach team associated with the facility started seeing patients last year and has already seen a significant positive impact for patients.
Co-production has been at the core of the project, with people with lived experience and their carers involved throughout to influence and shape the design of the building and service, including the art on the walls.
Ben Stunell is a peer mentor who has been involved with the project since the start, said:
It’s very exciting to see the opening of this amazing new facility and it will be great to see how our influence has impacted how it has been designed. I feel very strongly that every new service design and building should have authentic lived experience co-production at its core. It offers a unique opportunity for people to give back into services and experience the reward of knowing you have helped influence future care – and will greatly impact the treatment of future patients.
Work on the new 10-bed facility started in May 2024, commissioned by Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board. The Kingfisher is part of a South West offer, with a similar facility in Dawlish called The Brook.
Gordon Mvuti, Executive Lead for Learning Disabilities and Autism, Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board, said:
This new facility will provide the kind of specialist therapeutic mental health care which cannot be provided at home or in another mainstream hospital. The opening of this new local facility, along with the new outreach team, will significantly improve the services available for people with a learning disability and autistic people across the south west.
The name of the new facility was chosen after a vote involving service users, staff and local people, and was selected because the bird symbolises 'hope, healing, and vibrancy’. Nature will be at the heart of the new service, with each bedroom having access to its own garden.
Mathew Page, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief executive at Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, who will operate the new facility, said:
This is a very proud and exciting moment for everyone who has been involved in the development of this splendid new facility. The Kingfisher will provide high quality, compassionate care, and nature will be core to that care. There's a considerable evidence base that connecting with nature has good outcomes for the mental health and wellbeing of service users, and this new service will reflect that.
Kingfishers are a distinctive bird that represent hope, healing, and vibrancy, and the image and symbolism of this unique creature aligns with our vision for a service which is creative, connected to the environment and which promotes independence.
Art is also a central part of the new facility, with a series of 14 artworks commissioned and created especially for the new building following workshops with a wide range of service users and lived experience groups, in-patient services, local galleries, and Grow Wilder.
The art project was led by arts and mental health charity, Hospital Rooms, which aims to transform NHS mental health wards with high‑quality, therapeutic artwork created in collaboration with service users and world‑class artists.
The Kingfisher will be open to receive its first patient from early October.
The focus on effective community services continues to lead to a reduction in the use of inpatient beds for individuals with a learning disability and autistic people. However, they should be able to access inpatient services as and when they need to. These new services will be high-quality, integrated with community services, and focused on proactively encouraging independence, recovery, and swift discharge back to the community.
Image copyright: Willmott Dixon