Moreno destaca el compromiso del Gobierno andaluz con la salud mental, su prevención y detección precoz
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. This is evident in the fact that since 2021, 300 new staff members have been added, increasing from 2,950 to 3,250, including 26 psychologists and psychiatrists as suicide prevention references for each Clinical Management Unit of Mental Health, and another 26 professionals in units specialized in child and adolescent care. He stated that the ongoing goal is for all Andalusian provinces to have units for the hospitalization of Child-Adolescent Mental Health.
Moreno visited the Mental Health Unit of the Virgen del Rocío Hospital in Seville and affirmed that after remodeling works costing more than 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, individuals who are admitted in a very vulnerable state arrive, and these rooms, their courtyard, and terrace provide positive elements for their recovery.»
He mentioned that after the reform, this unit now has twenty-six beds in fourteen rooms, two of them individual and the rest double, complemented by a spacious occupational therapy room and ten clinical consultation rooms.
The Andalusian President highlighted that this intervention has allowed all necessary areas of care for these patients to be incorporated in one place, avoiding transfers from one location to another to focus on patients in need of temporary hospitalization and experiencing a worsening of their condition.
In this sense, he stated that the result is a unit as if it were a small hospital within another hospital, equipped with specific security measures, including surveillance cameras for patient safety and nursing control, providing humane and quality care in a friendly environment.
Moreno tours the Mental Health Unit of the Virgen del Rocío Hospital in Seville.
He highlighted that one of the key aspects of this reform has been the emphasis placed on open spaces such as the courtyard with vegetation, equipped 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 courtyard and terrace make this unit one of the few with these spaces on a hospitalization floor of a general hospital.»
Moreno mentioned that the first patients from the San Lázaro Mental Health will start to be admitted to this new unit, emphasizing that urgent patients will be attended here, and after discharge, they will continue their treatment within the thirteen Mental Health devices of the Clinical Management Unit of Mental Health.
Visit inside one of the rooms in the Unit.
He explained that this completed work is part of the Mental Health Plan of the Virgen del Rocío University Hospital, a planning initiative that aims to adapt the facilities to the current demand for care and modernize the installations to achieve more direct and humane patient care.
The President of the Junta recalled that, since 2022, many other works have been carried out, including the renovation of individual use rooms at the Children’s Hospital or the therapy room for eating disorders at the Women’s Hospital, as well as the exterior refurbishment and sports courts of the therapeutic community and the Day Mental Health Hospital of Los Bermejales on the campus of the Muñoz Cariñanos Hospital.
Additionally, he emphasized that this year, the differentiation of child and adolescent circuits at the Sanlúcar La Mayor Community Mental Health Unit has also been completed. «Mental Health care is one of the most solid challenges and commitments of this term. This translates into better facilities and more human resources because it is the work of professionals that makes the difference.»
Juanma Moreno converses 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 so that the people of Andalusia have the best possible public health system overall, an endeavor that, he assured, «has led, in the last six years, to equip us with nearly 70 new infrastructures with an investment of 2.8 billion that include seven hospitals, five day hospitals, and up to eighteen health centers,» in addition to a Public employment offer that includes nearly 22,000 new healthcare professionals.
«In 2025, we dedicate one-third of the Junta’s budget to the healthcare system, which is 15 billion euros, clearly showing the priority we give to healthcare from the Andalusian Government.»
The event also had the presence of the Managing Director of the Virgen del Rocío Hospital, Nieves Romero, and the Minister of Health and Consumer Affairs, Rocío Hernández.
