THE HSE OFFICIALLY opened the National Forensic Mental Health Service (NFMHS) campus today containing the relocated Central Mental Hospital which moved from Dundrum to Portrane in north county Dublin.

The new facility could provide care for 130 patients, and has capacity to care for 170 patients on campus when fully-operational in the future, as well as community and prison in-reach services. 

The relocation of the Central Mental Hospital (CMH) from Victorian-era buildings in      Dundrum to a newer purpose-built facility comes at a cost in the region of €200 million.

The hospital also has a Forensic Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (FCAMHS) and an Intensive Care Rehabilitation Unit (ICRU) on site.

The CMH is the only centre in the country providing specialist forensic psychiatric treatment for acute, medium and longer-term psychiatric care. 

The new facility has 130 single patient bedrooms laid out in small wards around shared indoor and outdoor spaces, in which collective activities and therapies take place.

A ‘village centre’ provides shared recreational facilities, including a horticultural area, a gym, a woodwork workshop and a music room, while a series of courtyards and secure perimeter gardens allow patients direct access to nature from each ward.

The village centre also houses mental health therapeutic services, a GP and a dentist.

Speaking at the official opening today, Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly said:

“Today is a significant and historic day for the Irish health service. This fantastic new facility brings real and necessary change to the lives of some of the most vulnerable in our society. This opening reiterates the Government’s commitment that healthcare to this vulnerable group should be delivered on the same values, principles and approaches that apply to all others in society.”

NFMHS, located by the sea, will also offer five clusters of forensic mental health care, including a Pre-discharge Unit, Female Unit, Mental Health Intellectual Disability Unit (MHID‐F), High Secure Unit and a Medium Secure Unit.

The facility aims to ensure that patients are living in accommodation appropriate to their needs, risks and modern healthcare standards and to increase the number of high and medium secure beds in accordance with international comparisons.

Another goal of the HSE in the relocation was to reduce costs relating to the placement of patients in the UK, prisons and other HSE services.

Speaking at the launch, Stephen Mulvany, CEO, HSE said:

“I am delighted to be here to mark this historic day. While the Dundrum site has a capacity of 96 patients, the National Forensic Mental Health Service increases that capacity to 110 beds initially, with a further expansion to 130 beds to occur in 2023.”

“The opening of the Intensive Rehabilitation Care Units (ICRU) is also due to progress in 2023, treating 30 patients who require specific interventions, and will inform the strategic rollout of a number of other facilities nationally.”

Minister of State for Mental Health & Older People, Mary Butler TD, said that the new campus would be “one of the most modern forensic mental health facilities in Europe,” conitnuing:

“We now have new opportunities to deliver the highest quality care and outcomes for some of the most complex and vulnerable mental health cases in Ireland, including the new 10-bed forensic CAMHS unit which I hope to see rolled out as soon as possible.”