The president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno, has emphasized the commitment of the Andalusian government to mental health, its prevention, and early detection. As proof of this, 300 new staff have been incorporated since 2021, increasing from 2,950 to 3,250, including 26 psychologists and psychiatrists as suicide prevention references for each Mental Health Clinical Management Unit, and another 26 specialists in child and adolescent mental health care. He stated that the ongoing objective is for all Andalusian provinces to have units for the hospitalization of Child and Adolescent Mental Health.
Moreno visited the Mental Health Unit of the Virgen del Rocío Hospital in Seville and affirmed that after remodeling works costing over one and a half million euros, this hospital is now a more comfortable, modern, and clinically effective place to provide the best care in the best environment.
«Here arrive people who are in a very vulnerable state, and these rooms, their patio, and terrace provide positive elements for their recovery.»
In this way, he highlighted that this unit now has twenty-six beds in fourteen rooms, two of them single and the rest double, along with a spacious occupational therapy room and ten clinical consultation rooms.
The Andalusian president emphasized that this intervention has allowed all necessary areas of care for these patients to be incorporated into one place, avoiding transfers from one location to another to focus on patients requiring temporary hospitalization and experiencing a worsening of their condition.
In this regard, he stated that the result is a unit that is like a small hospital within another hospital with specific security measures, including surveillance cameras for patient safety and nursing control, providing humane and quality care in a friendly environment.
Moreno touring the Mental Health Unit of the Virgen del Rocío Hospital in Seville.
It is here where he emphasized that one of the key points of this renovation was the importance given to open spaces such as the vegetation-filled patio with outdoor sports equipment and the new playful outdoor terrace that provides more light and outdoor space for the patient and their families, significantly improving the emotional and mental well-being, making the time spent away from their families or usual environments more bearable.
«In these spaces, they will be able to engage in play, relaxation, and group therapy activities. The patio and terrace make this unit one of the few that have these spaces on a hospitalization floor of a general hospital.»
Moreno indicated that the first patients from the San Lázaro Mental Health will start being admitted to this new unit, while also mentioning that urgent patients will be treated here, and after discharge, they will continue their treatment within the thirteen Mental Health Devices of the Clinical Management Unit.
Visit inside one of the rooms of the Unit.
At this point, he explained that this completed work is part of the Mental Health Plan of the Virgen del Rocío University Hospital, a planning effort aiming to adapt infrastructures to the current demand for care and modernize facilities to provide more direct and humane care to the patient.
The Junta’s president recalled that, since 2022, many other works have been carried out, including the renovation of individual use rooms in the Children’s Hospital or the eating disorder therapy room in the Women’s Hospital, as well as the exterior conditioning and sports courts of the therapeutic community and the Day Hospital of Mental Health in Los Bermejales on the Muñoz Cariñanos Hospital campus.
Furthermore, he emphasized that this year, the differentiation of child and adolescent circuits has also been completed at the Sanlúcar La Mayor Community Mental Health Unit. «Mental Health care is one of the most solid challenges and commitments of this legislature. This translates into better facilities and more human resources because it is the work of professionals that makes the difference.»
Juanma Moreno conversing with some of the professionals working in the Unit.
In conclusion, he added that the Junta is determined to continue making significant efforts in mental health care and to keep working towards ensuring that Andalusians have the best possible public health system overall, an effort that, as he assured, «in the last six years, has led us to equip ourselves with nearly 70 new infrastructures with an investment of 2.800 million, including seven hospitals, five day hospitals, and up to eighteen health centers,» along with a Public Employment offer that approaches 22,000 new healthcare professionals.
«We dedicate a third of the Junta’s budget to the healthcare system in 2025, which is 15 billion euros, clearly showing the priority we give to healthcare from the Andalusian government.»
The event also saw the presence of the managing director of the Virgen del Rocío Hospital, Nieves Romero, and the Health and Consumer Affairs Councilor, Rocío Hernández.
