The Mental Health Beds Expansion Program at Royal Melbourne Hospital seeks to improve the mental health care through a combination of new works expanding the number of beds, facility upgrades and refurbishment of existing wings.
Through a co-design process that responds directly to the Victorian Government’s Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System in 2021, Royal Melbourne Hospital is our third project under The Mental Health Beds Expansion Program, alongside Northern Hospital and The Sunshine Mental Health and Wellbeing Centre.
This project is a combination of new work and refurbishment that involves the relocation of 13 different services to create fit-for-purpose facilities capable of delivering contemporary models of care across a range of health domains. Additionally, the expansion provides 22 new beds to the pre-existing hospital.
The works have refurbished the North Wing, North Wing Expansion, West Wing, East and Centre Wing buildings, allowing for six new General Care Area (GCA) bedrooms and eight Intensive Care Area (ICA) bedrooms. We also refurbished an area on the second floor of the John Cade Building to upgrade the seven existing GCA bedrooms and add a Discrimination Act compliant bedroom. The location of the new bedrooms creates a mental health ‘Super floor’ on level one of the hospitals, within the expanded mental health precinct. A new entry to the unit connects directly into the hospital’s main circulation spine, improving its visibility and connections to the broader hospital campus.
Biophilic design principles and evidence-based research reveal the importance of having access to nature, natural light, and the outside environment for our mental health. We have intentionally designed new landscaped outdoor areas, including some of the existing rooftops and a central courtyard space that can be accessed from both the John Cade Building and the level one ‘Super floor’. This was challenging in the tight constraints of the built-up hospital campus. In other areas, we created smaller winter gardens and courtyards provide fresh air and visual amenity for consumers. The dining and lounge areas are co-located adjacent to these courtyards to allow natural light and visual amenity for consumers. These spaces offer informal meeting spaces, natural light/fresh air, and connection to nature without compromising on safety and robustness required in hospitals. These changes are representative of bigger shifts in how we design mental health facilities in line with the new model of care recommended by the Royal Commission to better support consumers and their families.
By grouping all these bedrooms together on the first floor we’ve created a mental health ‘super floor’ within the expanded mental health precinct. A new entry to the unit connects directly into the hospital’s main circulation spine, improving its visibility and connections to the broader hospital campus.
