Bethesda to build new mental health service

Bethesda Health Care has announced it is planning to build a private 40-bed mental health service on a 10,000 square metre block in Cockburn.

As well as overnight beds, the clinic will feature a mental health and wellbeing centre, consulting suites and offer tele-health and video conferencing.

The service will be the first private mental health service to be located south of the river, with existing services in the metropolitan area located in Nedlands, Wembley and the Perth CBD.

It will be managed by Bethesda, which estimated it will employ up to 100 staff at the centre.

Bethesda chief executive Neale Fong said it was well-known Western Australia had a major mental health bed shortage, and this facility would go a long way in assisting to ease the burden.

“Mental health and substance abuse disorders represent the fourth highest burden of disease in Australia, and the highest in young people,” Dr Fong said.

“Utilisation of mental health services in private hospitals is growing, increasing 25 per cent since 2013.”

Construction is due to begin at the end of 2020 and Bethesda expects to open the service in late 2022 or early 2023.

Bethesda runs an 88-bed hospital in Claremont, which according to BNiQ data, is the 25^th largest hospital in the state.

The organisation also runs the Metropolitan Palliative Care Consultancy Service in conjunction with the Department of Health and the WA Cancer and Palliative Care Network.

The announcement comes a month after long-time chair Dr Fong was announced as the organisation’s chief executive.