The Victorian Government is responding to recommendations from the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System with a $492 million investment to deliver 144 new acute public mental health beds, including 52 new Adult Inpatient Beds to be built at Sunshine Hospital, opening in 2023.
The Sunshine Hospital Mental Health Expansion Project will increase bed capacity, reduce pressure on emergency departments and provide additional support for people experiencing mental illness who require immediate treatment in a contemporary, safe and high-quality setting.
The Project is being delivered jointly by the North Western Mental Health Program and Western Health.
The Mental health beds expansion program aims to achieve the following benefits:
- More capacity to provide timely and improved access for people experiencing mental illness who require immediate treatment in a contemporary, safe and high-quality setting
- Modern and contemporary mental health care with facilities that will support high quality care to promote recovery for consumers
- Views and perspectives collated from people with lived experience of mental illness, as well as medical, nursing and allied health professionals and other staff
- Responding to and implementing the recommendations from the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System
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Features & Benefits
Key features of the new facility include:
- The new unit will be known as the Sunshine Mental Health and Wellbeing Unit.
- The unit will provide 52 inpatient beds, all with ensuites and distance views and supported with internal courtyards, shared kitchen and living areas and spaces to support program delivery
- The building is approximately 70m long and built over two levels, each providing 26-bed units, with a third level for staff offices, facilities and plant room
- The building will create a new Mental Health front entrance supporting access to the new units and to the existing Sunshine Adult Acute Psychiatric Unit (SAAPU) building. A dedicated secure ambulance entrance at the rear of the building is provided for discrete consumer transfer.
- Connection of the new unit to the hospital will be via a new ground floor l corridor, facilitating easy and respectful transfer of consumers to and from services within the Sunshine Hospital main campus.
- A further ground level double corridor will connect the facility to SAAPU, enabling ease of movement for consumers, staff, visitors and logistics support flows
- The early works component of the project was completed in December 2021, which included the relocation of services infrastructure, widening of the ring road, construction of a dedicated fleet car park and a new rear car park, which comprises more than 320 spaces.
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Status & Key Dates
Lendlease has been appointed as the managing contractor. Grove has been appointed as the modular provider. Approximately 300 modules will be prefabricated offsite and delivered and installed from March to October 2022.
The early works component of the project was completed in December 2021, which included the relocation of services infrastructure, widening of the ring road, construction of a dedicated fleet car park and a new rear car park for Sunshine Hospital, which will comprise of more than 320 spaces.
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Gallery
Figure: Architect’s view of Sunshine Hospital Mental Health Facility, being built on the southern side of the existing main Sunshine Hospital
Figure: New front entrance to the Mental Health Units
Figure: Ring Road and left turn access to new carpark 1 Figure: New carpark 1 to North, Westside Lodge to West, 52 bed Mental Health Unit to South East 
Figure: SHMHE Modules Gnd floor East wing complete -
Capital Development Contact
Eamonn O’Donoghue
Senior Project Manager
Eamonn.O’Donoghue@wh.org.au