The first private mental health clinic south of Perth’s Swan River aims to be a care leader in Western Australia, following the appointment of a general manager and an early start to its stage two development.
Dr Richard Bostwick has been tasked with leading the Bethesda Clinic, which is due to open in October/November 2022 with the completion of its initial phase.
He has joined Bethesda Health Care after almost three years as Deputy Director of Clinical Services at Hollywood Private Hospital, where he was also manager of mental health services at the Ramsay Health Care facility.
“Under Richard’s leadership, the clinic will be cemented as the leader in private mental health care in WA,” Bethesda Health Care CEO Dr Neale Fong said.
Dr Bostwick has more than 28 years’ experience in clinical, academic and managerial roles in the health industry, and has been at the forefront of the mental health sector’s move towards new models of care for consumers and patients.
“I am looking forward to working with the Bethesda team to develop innovative ways of supporting people in the state who are experiencing psychological distress,” he said.
“Our model of care will truly demonstrate partnerships between the individual and community, with the consumer being at the centre of these relationships.”
The Cockburn-based Bethesda Clinic will be a $60 million, four-storey, 75-bed facility offering inpatient services, a wellness and recovery centre, consulting rooms and a neuro-stimulation suite.
Stage two of the project was approved in January 2022 and has begun earlier than scheduled due to rising demand for mental health services in the city’s southern suburbs.
It will expand inpatient capacity from 45 beds and include additional inpatient lounges and open spaces on each level for patient wellbeing.
One floor will be a women-only ward, giving patients who have suffered trauma or abuse the option to have therapy in a safe environment – the first of its kind in the state.
The ground floor will feature new procedure suites for electroconvulsive therapy and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, while level five will have additional medical consultant suites.
The stage two areas of the project are expected to open in March 2023.
