The works, with a budget of six million euros, will open up a large part of the gardens to the public and better integrate the urban space of the site into the city.

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Armengol welcomes this “very clear change of strategy in mental health policy, which can no longer be reversed”.

This Friday, the Regional Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs began work on the renovation of the urban development of the Psychiatric Hospital site with the demolition of the walls that will open up the city to the Bons Aires Health Park. This is a further step in the project to reform the Psychiatric Hospital site, which will be called the Bons Aires Health Park, and which consists of opening up the site, removing the walls facing the street and connecting the Bons Aires neighbourhood with the Riera park. This project represents an investment of six million euros which, added to the four million euros invested in the refurbishment and reform of the Psychiatric Hospital buildings, amounts to a total of 10 million euros.

The ceremony was attended by the president of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Francina Armengol; the mayor of Palma, José Hila; the councillor of Health and Consumer Affairs, Patricia Gómez; the director general of the Health Service, Juli Fuster; the coordinator of Mental Health, Oriol Lafau, as well as representatives of mental health associations.

During the symbolic act in which the walls that currently separate the Psychiatric Hospital from the city began to be torn down, the president assured that today “is a moment that we will never forget” because “historically in our society we have stigmatised people who have been diagnosed with mental health problems, and this has come to an end”.

Armengol thanked “the health professionals, all the patients, the residents’ associations and the team at the Regional Ministry of Health” for making this opening of the psychiatric hospital to the city a reality: “we began seven years ago with a new mental health strategy and we have achieved very important things, such as having more public resources for mental health and bringing care services much closer to the citizens”.

Thus, there has been “a very clear change of strategy in mental health policy that can no longer be reversed,” said Armengol, who also called for an end to “the walls that close off problems for citizens. We are going to tear down walls and open doors so that everyone can have the same opportunities”.

The works to transform the Bons Aires Health Park are scheduled to take eighteen months to complete, and will include improvements in facilities, sanitation, the demolition of the laundry building, landscaping rehabilitation and the opening of the site to the city of Palma to reach the Riera park. This makes it possible to open up a large part of the gardens to the public and better integrate the urban space into the city of Palma. It also means updating and improving the general facilities in view of the implementation of new first-rate healthcare infrastructures, such as the Bons Aires Health Centre and the Primary Care Emergency Service (SUAP). The creation of this health park represents a unique opportunity for the city, which gains green areas while making first class health infrastructures available to the citizens.

Rehabilitation and refurbishment of the Psychiatric Hospital

The works at the Psychiatric Hospital have focused on the complete refurbishment of the buildings of the long-stay (Alfàbia) and medium-stay (Lluerna) units, the adaptation of the air-conditioning installations of the Psychogeriatric Unit building and the refurbishment of the façade, structure and roof of the social club.

The comprehensive refurbishment of the long-stay unit building (Alfàbia) improves the living areas for patients. On the ground floor, the living room, dining room, consulting rooms, patio, gazebo and gardens have been refurbished. The staircase and the railing leading to the first floor have been preserved and the fourteen rooms are for individual use with bathroom. The refurbishment of the Lluerna building has enabled the creation of the Dual Pathology Unit. The two-storey building has a day hospital with twenty beds on the ground floor and eight rooms for fifteen beds on the upper floor.

The renovations have also improved the installations and air-conditioning of the Psychogeriatric Unit and the roof, ceiling, balustrade and façade of the social club, thus extending the useful life of the buildings.