More than £1 million is being invested by ELFT, in partnership with NHS England, to expand the mental health inpatient bed capacity across Bedfordshire and Luton. This will ensure more people requiring inpatient care can access this closer to home.
The new bedrooms will be created on Coral, Onyx and Crystal wards at ELFT’s Luton Centre for Mental Health (Calnwood Court, on the Luton & Dunstable University Hospital site), and on Ash Ward at Oakley Court, Luton.
All bedrooms will be designed to be sensory-friendly, to better support people with learning disabilities, autism and additional sensory needs. A dedicated sensory-friendly annexe will be created within Coral ward,.
Richard Fradgley, ELFT Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Integrated Care, said: “These additional beds strengthen our inpatient mental health care and reflect our commitment to providing high-quality care for service users as close to home as possible.”