Wessex House: Mental health unit for teenagers closes permanently

The only remaining adolescent psychiatric unit in the West for teenagers with serious mental health difficulties has closed permanently.

Wessex House in Bridgwater provided residential mental health treatment for 13-18-year-olds from Somerset, Bristol, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire before it closed temporarily in September 2024 due to a lack of staff.

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has said it will not reopen the unit. The nearest similar facilities are in Devon and Dorset.

The trust said admissions to Wessex House had fallen following investment in community care, adding the "vast majority" of young people in Somerset received support outside of hospital.