New 'seclusion areas' approved for Lancashire mental health hospital's patients

Elmridge House – a building that forms part of the Guild Lodge secure inpatient hospital in Preston, which serves the whole county – will get a two-storey extension after planning permission was granted by Preston City Council.

The ground floor of the new-build, within the Guild Park site off Cumeragh Lane, will feature two ‘seclusion suites’, along with a pair of observation rooms and two so-called ‘extra care’ lounges.

The development will also see the creation of new garden areas alongside the extension, which are designed to enhance the wellbeing of patients and will be secured with mesh fencing. The first floor will function solely as a plant equipment room.

Welcoming the city council’s decision to approve the scheme, Abigail Harrison, chief digital, infrastructure and improvement officer for Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust – which operates Guild Park – said: “We are delighted that this extension has been granted to make improvements to our inpatient accommodation at Guild Lodge in Preston.

“This will enable us to reconfigure this space for patients with some of the most challenging mental health conditions, providing additional areas for seclusion and extra care areas for service users, including direct access to enhanced welfare facilities and therapeutic garden spaces.”

Town hall planners concluded that the proposed expansion was acceptable – even though it was within an area deemed ‘open countryside’ – because it would be “small scale and well-contained within the ground[s] of the existing built development” and would not result in further encroachment on the rural space.

The green light for Elmridge House came in the same week that Water Meadow View, a new specialist mental health service for adults with a learning disability, was officially opened at Guild Park.

Guild Lodge provides more than 160 beds for people with complex mental health needs from right across Lancashire and South Cumbria.