Peter Gibson, Conservative MP for Darlington, visited Cygnet Victoria House, on Barton Street, a 26-bed hospital for men who are suffering from an acute episode of mental health. The hospital is part of the Cygnet Health Care division.
Peter praised the “passionate” staff for the high quality care they provide. He toured the facility and spoke to staff and service users during his visit to find out more about the treatment offered on site and what a typical recovery journey looks like for the people benefitting from the service.
Paul Jones, Hospital Manager, said it was a positive visit for everyone.
He added: “It was a genuine pleasure to open our doors to our local Member of Parliament and show him the life-changing care and support we deliver here at Cygnet Victoria House.
“The ethos of our service here is stabilisation, offering compassionate care to support service users to manage their mental health, reinforce daily living skills and prepare for independent life back in the community. It was a privilege to demonstrate this first-hand to Peter so that he could see the excellent work being done in his constituency to support men with mental health issues.
“We take immense pride in what we achieve here and the outcomes we deliver for our service users and it is important we welcome guests to share our work and educate them on what happens in a mental health care setting. I know it meant a lot to the staff here that Peter took the time out of his busy schedule to come and have a look at our care setting, to really listen to us and that we were given an opportunity to share our work with him.
“We want to continue building local support for the work that we do and cultivate positive relations with our neighbours and the local community.”
Talking about the visit, Peter was keen to highlight how impressed he was with the quality of compassionate care delivered.
He said: “I greatly enjoyed my visit to Cygnet Victoria House, it was insightful to learn about the compassionate, dedicated care being provided to men who are suffering with their mental health. By talking to the hospital manager alongside his staff, I learnt a great deal about the support being offered to support men in preparing for life back in the community.
“The staff are clearly hard-working and passionate people who care deeply for their service users and I was very impressed with what I saw. I will keep in touch with staff and service users as I am keen to hear more about their exciting plans for the future.”