St Albans mental health hospital gets new name

ST ALBANS: A new name has been unveiled for one of the district’s best-known hospitals.

Herts Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT) unveiled the name, Kingsley Green, at the launch event for the �40 million acute inpatient mental health unit that it is building on the Harperbury Hospital site in Harper Lane.

Chief executive Tom Cahill explained: “Whilst we have regard for Harperbury’s history, we need to change the name of the site to reflect our determination to build another unit that is worthy of our aspiration to be the leading provider of mental health and learning disability services.”

The rebranding process began in May and was concluded by a vote of the major stakeholders. All the suggestions expressed a desire to have a name that evoked the feeling of open space that the site enjoys, avoiding institutional overtones.

Some wanted the name to subtly reflect Harperbury’s history so the new name includes a reference to Sir Howard Kingsley Wood, the Minister of Health who formally opened the site as a health facility 75 years ago.

HPFT has a number of other buildings on the site including a psychiatric intensive care unit and low secure unit as well as the recently-refurbished Forest House, an inpatient unit for children and adolescents.

The new inpatient mental health unit will house 64 beds split into four wards and another 16-bed adult learning disability ward. Construction is due to begin in 2012 with completion late in 2013.