Some patients with serious psychiatric conditions are still sleeping on sofas at a Belfast mental health facility months after serious building problems were discovered there.
The Acute Mental Health Inpatient Centre opened just six years ago at a cost of £33m, but has been dogged with issues.
Rot and black mould were previously found in the building – which has continued to suffer from newly-discovered leaks – and the entire water system now needs replaced, which will add millions of pounds to existing repair costs.
The Belfast Health Trust said no patients have had to move out as a result of the building issues, and works on two damaged bedrooms are due to be completed in “the coming days”.
The centre at Belfast City Hospital provides 74 acute mental health en-suite bedrooms, including six psychiatric intensive care beds.
Last September, it was revealed that leaking pipes in the Acute Mental Health building had caused £4m worth of damage. Water had been dripping from various pipes since 2022 causing corrosion within the hot water system and damage to walls and floors.
At the time, it was thought damage was confined to a small area.
But further exploration which involved ripping up two bedrooms identified more extensive damage, including leaking pipes across the building which had saturated floors and caused metal stud walls to rot and mould to grow on plaster.
One bedroom previously had an ant infestation and was closed immediately.
GoogleIn March, the revealed that repair costs for the building could be up to £10m.
Last month, the health trust said the projected costs for the newly-discovered water system issues were up to £6m, not including legal fees.
Two bedrooms which had suffered damage were due to be repaired by the end of this summer. As a result of their closure, capacity at the unit has been stretched, leading to patients forced to sleep on sofas.
The Belfast Trust said: “Works on the [bedrooms] are almost complete and are subject to final checks… it is expected that both rooms will be available for the delivery of services in the coming days.”
Plans to rehome patients
While a plan has been put in place to temporarily rehome patients at Knockbracken Healthcare Park south of Belfast, that facility has not been used to date.
The trust is taking legal advice over where liability for the building failures lies.
The facility was built by Graham BAM Healthcare Partnership (GBHP), a joint partnership between County Down-based Graham Construction and BAM Ireland in the Republic of Ireland.
GBHP has also been involved in Belfast’s new maternity hospital which remains unopened and almost £50m over budget.
The Belfast Trust said it was “currently working with its legal advisors to appoint independent specialists to undertake a comprehensive review of the water system and any potential sources of water ingress and to help identify liability for the costs of the remediation work”.
In a response to the , the trust said a survey of the entire building had taken place ahead of the repair works.
In August 2024, the body which inspects healthcare facilities – the RQIA – issued a notice to the trust telling it to replace doors and door handles at the facility because of potential patient self-harm as a result of ligature risks.
This was to be complied with by 17 February this year, with an extension granted to April, and now compliance required by this November.
