A new vision for the Warneford Estate

The case for change

Oxford Health’s Warneford Hospital is the oldest inpatient unit still in use across the entire NHS estate.  Staff continue to provide compassionate care in a Grade II listed building that has little changed from its origins 200 years ago.

Providing optimal care

The constraints of the buildings directly hinder the provision of therapeutic activity and Trust’s ability to provide suitable space for managing challenging behaviour which all creates a vicious circle contributing to increased patient distress.

The constraints of the ward environment affect the access to and quality of therapeutic treatment which has a consequential impact on length of stay with OHFT as a national outlier in the upper quartile for adult acute length of stay (LOS) at 10 days longer than the national average.

Improving team working

The adult acute workforce is currently split across three sites. A one-site solution benefits both patients and staff teams.

A centre of excellence

The latent potential to develop a new brain science campus exists in Oxford with the presence, in one small geographical footprint, of clinical excellence, research and innovation. The cornerstone to unlocking the potential is the development of a state-of-the-art mental health hospital.

Opening a new academic college in Oxford is an infrequent event as it is extremely rare for a suitable site to become available: Warneford Park provides that almost unique opportunity.