LANGDON Hospital, Dawlish, has applied for permission for a £35m expansion and modernisation programme on its 111-acre site overlooking the Teign estuary. Outline plans were first submitted in January, but they were asked by Teignbridge Council to provide a flood risk assessment, bat survey, green travel plan and outline land contamination report. The patients at Langdon Hospital are referred through the criminal justice system and some are detained under the Mental Health Act. The Butler Unit is a medium secure unit. There is also a low secure and open unit. Unsuitable and dilapidated buildings will be demolished to make way for new lighter purpose-built facilities, grouped in clusters to create a 'village feel'. Jo Ballantyne, directorate manager, Forensic Services Devon Partnership Trust, said: 'We will be moving all of our buildings further up the site to get more of that view. 'They will be predominantly single-storey, to blend in with the contours of the site.' The scheme will be funded with private money, through the Public Finance Initiative. It is not be the first forensic mental hospital to be developed under PFI. A medium secure unit at Frome, near Bristol, also chose this route. Ms Ballantyne said she hopes to have identified a partner by of this year or early next. Under the scheme, patient numbers will rise from 70 adult males to 98. This will allow those currently being treated in hospitals as far away as Norfolk – a journey of nine hours for visiting families – to be 'repatriated' to the area. Ms Ballantyne said there could be further changes in the pipeline. 'Because things are changing so much in mental health generally we may introduce women's services, people with more severe learning disabilities. We may well consider providing a unit for people who are vulnerable and frail. And there are still people being treated out of the area. The development needs to be flexible.' Therapies are to be provided in a central area, rather than ward-based, so that patients don't have to spend so much of the time where they sleep. 'In 10 years' time on the horizon people will see much more attractive buildings which are fit for purpose.' Staff numbers are expected to rise by 90 by 2010, providing job opportunities for support workers, domestic staff, unregistered and registered nurses, occupational therapists and other health workers. Teignbridge Council has 13 weeks to make up its mind. A planning officer said that the application may be decided under delegated powers.
