A GROUND-BREAKING new facility designed to treat women with severe and complex mental health problems has opened at a Bradford hospital.

The Daisy Hill Intensive Therapy Centre (ITC) was officially unveiled at Lynfield Mount yesterday, and will welcome its first patients on Monday.

Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust - which provides community health, mental health, and social care services for people across the district - has invested £1.6 million in the new 12-bed unit, which it states will offer a treatment therapy programme which is said to be unrivalled in the UK.

The ITC, said to be the first facility of its kind in the country, will accept referrals from both the Bradford district and out-of-area patients.

It will offer cutting-edge therapies five days a week, including Schema Therapy, said to be effective in the treatment of personality disorders, borderline personality disorder, and a range of complex mental health problems.

The treatment, described as an innovative form of psychotherapy, is widely practised in the US and American experts will provide ongoing Schema Therapy training to Daisy Hill’s highly specialist team of health professionals.

Daisy Hill ITC lead Patrick Harper, an Advanced Certified Schema Therapist, Supervisor and Trainer, said: "The need for inpatient therapy of this kind has been under-served until now, but we are creating a whole pathway.

"This is a tremendously exciting opportunity for Bradford, as local people now have a specialist service right on their doorstep."

In a bid to create a welcoming and restful space, ideas for Daisy Hill’s name and design features were gathered from service users at the trust.

To mark yesterday's opening, a wall to ceiling mural was unveiled by Victoria Raistrick, one of the service users who helped to create it.

"As someone who has mental health problems I can empathise with how others might feel when they visit hospital," she said.

"I know what helps me to feel better, and it’s great that I’ve been able to have input, not just in creating this mural but in more general terms with the centre’s look and feel.

"I think we’ve helped create a more calming, less clinical space."

Alongside its specialist treatment programmes, patients admitted to the centre will also be able to access diverse therapeutic activities such as music and art therapy, gardening, walking, and crafts.

Daisy Hill ITC constitutes the first phase of changes being made at the hospital site, with a £2m dementia unit set to open in August.