Ridge Hill Learning Disabilities Centre - Completed
Brierley Hill Road, Stourbridge, West Midlands. DY8 5ST
To meet the Government Policy under ‘Valuing People’ for people with Learning Disabilities to live in local communities, and not within traditional hospital settings, the two Dudley Primary Care Trusts, together with Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council’s Social Services discussed with the existing residents of Ridge Hill, their carers and families, their resettlement into appropriate homes in the local community.
The Ridge Hill Learning Disabilities Centre was built in order to support these people, and the other people with Learning Disabilities already living happily within the community by strengthening and modernising the community-based health specialist services. The Centre provides:
- A 6-bedded unit for that small number of people who need intensive support for a short period, to enable them to remain living and working in their local community;
- A 2-bedded unit for intensive rehabilitation services to work towards the re-integration of people who have out-of-county placements;
- A purpose-designed Therapy and Enabling Centre to continue to support and develop the skills of people with Learning Disabilities and to assist in peoples physical needs with the use of such services as Hydrotherapy;
- Provision of 2 beds for short-term breaks for Dudley residents.
LIFT has provided modern, purpose-designed and built accommodation to house these services, which are maintained to a guaranteed standard. The Scheme:
- Replaced outdated infrastructure for the delivery of modernised health specialist services for adults with Learning Disabilities, which were housed in converted bungalows originally designed to provide residential care which could not be maintained to the appropriate standards for the modernised health specialist support services now required. The need for extensive refurbishment was noted in the Mental Health Act Commission visit in 2005.
- Provided new rationalised buildings on an existing long-stay hospital site to maximise the future use of the remaining land;
- Placed the new building and services at the heart of a new housing development regenerating the adjacent and closed Wordsley Hospital site and a housing development on the Ridge Hill site following closure of the long stay hospital in 2005/06. In excess of 400 dwellings are on the two sites.
- Supported the planned growth from 3 to 6 beds in the intensive support unit, enabling more appropriate provision for the population of Dudley at the time the individual requires it;
- Maintains 2 short-term breaks beds providing the structured support environment to allow individuals to continue to live safely at home with their families/carers;
- Provides a 2-bedded intensive rehabilitation service, addressing the complete lack of provision for Adults with high levels of severe challenging behaviours; their placements have therefore been out-of-borough, significant distances from their families. This provision is in line with ‘Out of area, out of sight?’ the strategy adopted by the Birmingham and the Black Country StHA to develop specialist provision to bring such residents back to their home area. The service enables people who are placed out-of-borough into the newly developed specialist health service with their current funding package and structured support programme to reduce their core requirements and to enable them to live successfully in the local community. This clearly provides significant quality of life benefits for the individual, their local relatives and friends. Once resettled in their own homes, the resources are released to continue re-integrating other out-of-borough clients;
- Enables the appropriate growth to 10 beds to support the Royal College of Psychiatrists recommendation for an appropriate specialist health learning disability service for a borough the size of Dudley.
- Provides new services resourced within the overall package of funding identified for Learning Disabilities in the 2006/07 LDP, which made provision for both the closure of the Ridge Hill Learning Disabilities hospital site and the replacement/new development of Health Specialist Services.
