The Regional Hospital of Malaga inaugurates its mental health unit for Short-term Adolescent Hospitalization

The Regional Hospital of Málaga has inaugurated this Friday its Brief Adolescent Hospitalization Unit (UHBA) for Mental Health in the Guadalmedina building. It will be a solution for those youths aged 12 to 17 who show suicidal inclinations, depression, and other moderate to severe psychotic disorders, and who require specialized treatment and care. Especially, facing a health issue that medical staff describe as "significant." The infrastructure adds to a plan that includes day hospital care.

The facility will officially open to patients next Monday, January 12. It has six beds, with the possibility of expanding to ten, distributed across several rooms. Admitted patients will be cared for by a team of 24 professionals following an estimated half a million euros investment in the project, and an annual expense of "1.2 million euros", as announced by the Andalusian Regional Government.

"This will allow us to hospitalize them and provide specialized care in the shortest possible time when they experience a mental disorder crisis. Also, to improve the quality of care and the humanization of spaces, fostering more appropriate therapeutic environments for both patients and professionals. In 2019, only Jaén and Almería had separate hospitalization units, so children from the rest of Andalusia had to be hospitalized with adults or in pediatric wards, and even transferred from other provinces, where often parents could not accompany them", highlighted the Minister of Health, Presidency, and Emergencies, Antonio Sanz, after touring the facilities.

It is estimated that two to three beds are needed for this type of patients per 100,000 inhabitants. "In Málaga, there is a population under 18 years old exceeding 333,000 minors and until now there was no adolescent hospitalization unit that met those minimum quality standards," he added.

More specialized resources and care

At the Guadalmedina Center, specifically in the UHBA, there will be two specialist area physicians, three mental health specialist nurses, six nurses, an occupational therapist, six auxiliary nursing care technicians (TCAE,) and six orderlies. All this will add up to a total of 77 professionals for the mental health care of the youth in Málaga and 53 professionals working in the Eating Disorder Unit at the day hospitals.

In this regard, Antonio Bordallo, director of the new hospitalization unit in the province, accompanied by his healthcare team, has warned of the "significant epidemic of self-harm and suicide attempts at these ages". Especially, having noticed in recent years "an exponential increase in cases" that create "a health problem" far from the previous reality where it was an "occasional" situation evolved today into a "permanent use of beds".

"We have estimated that there could be about 70 or 80 children per year. We will try to make it extremely brief. The longest we would like a child to be admitted here would be two weeks because more than that would be a significant disruption in their daily life. Our philosophy is not to have so many beds, we believe that if they get used to solving their problems through hospitalization, it surely won't be very healthy in the future, we intend to provide all the necessary care. Additionally, the unit is linked to a transitional intervention team to ensure that when discharged, we can support the patient in the community for a while," he expressed.

Action from the Ministry of Health

The space in question will extend over 430 square meters in which 453,319 euros have been invested from the Mental Health funds of the Ministry of Health and another 35,500 euros from own funds for furniture, financed with funds from the Andalusian Regional Government. With this, the center includes a functional plan for the Specialized Child-Adolescent Care Unit and a Intensive Home Care Program in Suicidal Crisis as an alternative to hospitalization, also available from this January.

This sets up the sixth Brief Hospitalization Unit for Adolescents with mental health issues in Andalusia. Following those already existing in Jaén and Almería and those created since 2019 in Cádiz, Granada, and Sevilla and those to be established in Huelva, in the new Maternal and Child Hospital, and in the Reina Sofía Hospital in Córdoba to cover all provinces.

The Minister of Health recalled that "just in the last two years" 14.2 million euros have been invested in mental health infrastructure in 36 projects across the autonomous community, which has contributed to "Andalusia standing out nationally in the fulfillment of the differentiation of mental health care spaces for children and adolescents from those intended for adults". In fact, "we have now reached this differentiation in 99%", he specified, referring also to the 78 community mental health units and other centers where it is not possible to host such infrastructure but "adult and young patients are scheduled at different times" to facilitate care.

With these measures "we not only protect the rights to care for minors with mental health issues, but also promote that families can accompany children and adolescents while they are hospitalized," he concluded at the event, which was attended by the Health Delegate of Málaga, Carlos Bautista; the General Director of Care, Sociosanitary Care, Mental Health and Addictions, Trinidad Rus, and the Managing Director of the Regional Hospital of Málaga, José Antonio Ortega, among other authorities.