$540 million has been invested to deliver the Westmead Integrated Mental Health Complex. Set to be completed in 2027 it will deliver an uplift in beds, addressing the growing demand for mental health services in the area and providing best-practice care for Western Sydney communities.
Designs for the new complex were developed in close concert with key stakeholders including hospital staff, clinicians, community members and those with a lived experience in the New South Wales Mental Health System. This engagement will continue throughout the construction process.
The new Westmead Integrated Mental Health Complex will include:
- acute mental health beds, including beds for youth, adolescents, adults, older persons and people living with eating disorders
- mental health intensive care and high dependency units
- a mental health assessment area
- sub and non-acute mental health beds
- multidisciplinary ambulatory and outpatient mental health support services.
Importantly, the construction of this complex will include a link bridge connection to Westmead Hospital, providing better integration between mental health care and other services including the emergency department and psychiatric emergency care.
As part of this project, existing mental health inpatient and outpatient services at Cumberland Hospital West Campus will be relocated to the new Integrated Mental Health Complex at Westmead Health Precinct.
There will be no disruption or changes to patient care until the Westmead complex is complete, and it is absolutely safe to do so.
Today marks a milestone in the Minns Labor Government's ongoing work to support community mental health and wellbeing by increasing the essential help available to the people of New South Wales when they need it.
This work has included:
- investing $8.2 million to support lifeline to expand text and webchat services for NSW residents
- investing $17.1 million in Kids Helpline, to provide greater access to free counselling services for children and young people
- hosted a state first forum to shine a spotlight on men's mental health
- launched a parliamentary inquiry into Loneliness and its impacts
- employing additional school counsellors to support student wellbeing across NSW schools
- launched a new mental health and wellbeing strategy for first responders
- commenced community consultation on landmark whole of government suicide prevention legislation.
Premier Chris Minns said:
"Today is a really important step forward in building a more accessible and integrated mental healthcare system for New South Wales.
"Mental health is an important and ongoing conversation. This investment is about ensuring when people need help, they can receive it, in a place that has been designed to provide the best care possible.
"We know that mental health care can not and should not be separated from other forms of healthcare, which is why it's so important that this project includes a bridge connecting the mental health services to Westmead Hospital."
Minister for Mental Health Rose Jackson said:
"The new Integrated Mental Health Complex will be a game-changer for New South Wales and will ensure people can receive the best possible care in an environment that prioritises their wellbeing.
"By combining acute, non-acute and sub-acute services under the one roof, this will be a space that not only addresses the immediate needs of people in crisis but also fosters long-term recovery."
Minister for Health Ryan Park said:
"It's great to see work getting underway for the new state-of-the-art health facility, which will revolutionise mental health care in NSW.
"The new Complex will further cement the Westmead Health Precinct as one of the largest health, research, education and training precincts in the world, and provide enhanced access to mental health care in a contemporary health care facility."
Member for Parramatta Donna Davis said:
"I'm very pleased to see progress on this project. As this Complex comes to life it will bring us closer to the delivery of a new 21st-Century mental health facility right in the heart of Western Sydney.
"Turning the sod on this new Complex opens a new chapter in the history of mental health services in Parramatta that has spanned more than 175 years.
"This new build also provides a welcome boost to the local economy, supporting almost 1000 direct jobs with the potential for supporting thousands of indirect jobs throughout the life of the project."
