New mental health hospital to be built on ground of old nursing home

A new mental health hospital will be built on the grounds of an old care home in Hyde, despite safety fears from locals.

What used to be Hyde Nursing Home will now be transformed into a unit for men suffering with mental health issues.

Following approval from Tameside council’s planning panel, Cygnet Health Care will convert the vacant three-storey building into a facility fit for 47 males suffering with mental health problems. The site off Grange South Road currently contains 100 en-suite rooms, but that number will be cut down to 47 by Cygnet. 

The mental health care specialists intend to part-demolish the current structure so they can create private bedrooms and bathrooms; therapy gardens; a gym; office spaces; and various other therapy and staffing rooms. 

The remodelling of the site, in the middle of a housing estate, would also include a psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) – something that brought with it huge concerns from neighbours. Some 210 objectors wanted to see the plans refused. 

Local ward councillors Joe Kitchen and Betty Affleck spoke at the latest planning panel meeting in Droylsden in opposition to the plans. Despite the need for mental health facilities like this one, the councillors felt the close proximity to Alder Community High School was a concern.

“Think of the hundreds of children that are passing, 400ft from the front door,” Coun Kitchen told the panel on March 18. “No one can say whether one of those people could get out of that facility and harm one of those children.

“Please don’t put those children at risk.”

Objector Gareth O’Neill, speaking on behalf of locals in the area, added that this facility posed a ‘clear risk of danger to residents’. 

An agent on behalf of Cygnet, explained that the PICU would only be a small part of the mental health hospital – 12  out of 47 beds. He added that this unit, for the most vulnerable residents in crisis, would be separate to the rest of the facility.

“This is where people need crisis intervention,” the agent told the panel. “They will be in the facility for much longer than others. 

“The idea is that they will transfer from the PICU to the acute wards. This facility means they can do that all under one roof.”

The planning agent added that the Care Quality Commission wouldn’t register the new facility if it didn’t meet standards, as suggested by some objectors. A perimeter fence, CCTV, new lighting and more secure doors are also included in the plans for the safety and security of the site, the meeting in Guardsman Tony Downes House heard. 

The planning panel, chaired by Coun David Mills, approved the application by a majority decision.