To better serve the needs of our community, Livewell Southwest and University Hospitals Plymouth (UHP) are repurposing Mount Gould Hospital to create a Centre of Excellence for Rehabilitation and Ageing Well. This reconfiguration is designed to address the growing demand for rehabilitation and mental health services, aligning with national healthcare goals and the evolving needs of our local population.
As our community grows older, there is an increasing need for specialised care models that support patients in community or home settings, rather than in acute hospitals. The new vision for Mount Gould integrates existing services to create a more efficient, patient-centred care model, while helping to alleviate system pressures on the main Derriford Hospital site. This will ensure patients receive the right care and can return home as soon as appropriate.
These changes to the Mount Gould site will take place in three phases across the next 12-18 months:
- Rightsizing General Rehabilitation Beds: The current general rehabilitation beds on Kingfisher and Skylark wards will be merged into one ward, offering capacity for 24 beds. The existing 10-12 End of Life beds will remain unaffected.
- Relocation of Stroke Rehabilitation: The space vacated by the general rehabilitation beds on Kingfisher will be used to relocate the Stroke Rehabilitation Service from Wembury, increasing capacity to 15-24 beds and providing specialist neuro-rehabilitation services. The new location is situated alongside the rehabilitation gym, providing partnership access for all neuro and stroke rehab patients.
- Relocation of Male Mental Health Beds: The space on Wembury vacated by the Stroke Rehabilitation Service will accommodate the Male Mental Health Rehabilitation beds currently located in Syrena House. This will increase capacity from 9 to 15 beds.
This new model of care will address ongoing capacity issues in both rehabilitation and mental health services, ensuring patients receive the right care, in the right place, without unnecessary delays. It also supports the growing need for home-first care options, which aim to reduce the demand for inpatient community hospital services. Currently, there is a demand for specialist stroke rehabilitation services in our local population and a shortage of specialist mental health beds, with some patients currently placed out of area due to insufficient local capacity. In the next 10 years, the age of the local population will grow by 20%, driving increased demand for rehabilitation services. The changes will enable us to shift around 1,000 outpatient appointments to the new centre.
In alignment with national healthcare strategies outlined in the Darzi Review and the NHS 10 Year Plan, this Centre will support key shifts in healthcare: moving care from hospitals to communities, advancing digital healthcare, and emphasizing prevention over treatment. The Centre will also foster greater collaboration among staff across multiple care pathways and integrate physical and mental health services for older people.
Currently, Kingfisher and Skylark wards at Mount Gould are used for patients who require rehabilitation or assessment, but do not need acute hospital care. We have recently invested as partners in greater capacity and quality home reablement, and successfully now seeing 30 more patients a week supported to go home after a hospital stay. This is reducing the need for patients to continue to have bedded care reablement, and reducing demand on those two wards. These changes will ensure more efficient use of space and services, meeting both immediate needs and long-term goals.
Additionally, there is a clear community need for more mental health bed provision. This reconfiguration will provide specialist recovery beds, supporting the existing services at Syreena House, and allow us to continue providing rehabilitation for patients who cannot receive care at home.
Our ultimate goal is for 75% of patients to return home following hospital admission with the appropriate support, in line with what patients consistently tell us they want. This initiative is part of our commitment to providing the right care, in the right place, at the right time, based on the health demands of our local population.
Mark Hackett, Interim Chief Executive for University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, and Michelle Thomas, Chief Executive for Livewell South West, said:
“The reconfiguration of the bed base on the Mount Gould Hospital site gives us an opportunity to provide specialist beds for the needs of our local population, and create a Centre of Excellence for Rehabilitation and Ageing Well. This is an opportunity to make the Mount Gould footprint a major community site for our patients and what will be a hub for future integrated neighbourhood teams.
“Towards the end of last year the Darzi report, followed by the NHS 10 Year Plan, outlined the need for the NHS to deliver on three shifts to be fit for the future: from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention. Plymouth needs more mental health bed provision, and these moves will provide more specialist mental health recovery beds to the Mount Gould Hospital site, supporting those already in operation at Syrena House.
“This plan for Mount Gould Hospital will take place across three phases. The first will see a rightsizing of general rehabilitation beds which are currently located on Kingfisher and Skylark wards, merging these two wards into one.
“The second phase will see the space vacated on Kingfisher utilised for moving the Stroke Rehabilitation Service from Wembury. This will increase stroke rehabilitation beds to 15-24 and provide specialist neurorehabilitation services.
“The space on Wembury vacated by the Stroke Rehabilitation Service will allow for the relocation of male mental health rehabilitations beds currently occupying Syrena House. This will increase capacity for mental health provision and provide much needed additional provision to the service for patients.
There will be no changes to the End of Life beds currently in place at Kingfisher and Skylark, who have of course had a recent expansion thanks to our partnership with Marie Curie.”
Phase One of the rightsizing of Mount Gould Hospital into a Centre of Excellence for Rehabilitation and Ageing Well will take place later this year.
