A first of its kind for Hampshire - a Children and Adolescent Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) - has opened in Austen House at Tatchbury Mount, offering better outcomes for young people with the ability to treat them closer to home and their families.
The seven-bed ward, named Bennet Ward, marked the milestone with a celebratory event, ahead of its official opening to young people on 5 January 2026. The event was attended by local MP, Sir Julian Lewis, and representatives from Hampshire, Kent and Sussex Provider Collaborative, the Trust Executive Board, intensive community support teams and the Austen House multidisciplinary team (including Hampshire County Council Secure and Specialist Education).
Bennet Ward has been carefully designed to deliver high quality, compassionate mental health care by realising a whole range of benefits for young people across Hampshire, including:
- Close and joined-up oversight of the care provision to ensure good outcomes for young people are achieved.
- Young people experiencing smooth and timely transitions from the General Adolescent Unit (GAU) and back if appropriate, and opportunity to maintain links with clinicians to reduce time spent within the PICU.
- Young people requiring a PICU will receive prompt treatment closer to home to maintain contact with family and their wider network.
- Overall reduction in length of stay for young people in hospital.
Laura Petty, PICU Ward Manager, and Bethan Grundy, Modern Matron at Austen House, said: "We’re incredibly proud of all the hard work that’s gone into opening our new ward. Our hope is that this service will help many local young people stay closer to home, supporting them through short admissions and helping them return to their families. The whole team is excited to welcome and support the young people who come into the ward."
Dr Dan Baylis, Chief Medical Officer, added “We are delighted to have reached this milestone in our PICU journey. This project has been a real collaborative effort, bringing together expertise and input from colleagues across the Trust and our partner organisations to design an environment that can deliver the best possible outcomes for young people during a critical time in their lives.
We are particularly proud of the model of care developed for Bennet Ward. At its core, it focusses on supporting young people who require short-term intensive care, tailoring care to respond to their unique needs. The model is underpinned by a range of evidence-based and best practice approaches, including attachment and trauma theory, sensory integration and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT).”
In the PICU realising these benefits the unit will not only support the Trust’s strategic aims of delivering outstanding care but also delivering value for money.
Discover more about the Trust’s Strategy 2025-30 online here.