A NEW community mental health and staff training facility for Bridgwater was opened last week.

Town MP Ian Liddell-Grainger was on hand to officially unveil Somerset NHS Trust's Glanville House centre in Church Street on Friday.

As reported in The Mercury, health bosses have moved community and day hospital services for elderly people with mental health problems from the Cranleigh ward at the Broadway Health Park site to a new all-encompassing facility closer to the town centre.

Glanville House is the new NHS base for community mental health teams which work with adults with mental illnesses and older people with conditions such as dementia.

Mental health staff across the county will also receive training at the centre.

Judith Smith from the Somerset NHS Trust told the Mercury the centre, which has been in operation for several weeks, also offers day services for people to drop in and take part in therapeutic activities.

She added: “The services on offer will be exactly the same as at Cranleigh House, we have just bought them all together in one place.

“It is also handy for people as it is closer to the town centre. It meets the needs of users and workers.”

Mr Liddell-Grainger marked the opening of the facility by unveiling a commemorative plaque after taking in a tour and meeting staff.

He said: “What I have seen at Glanville House is an example of how to deliver mental health support in the right way and with the right attitude, so that support is available within the community and without the stigma, which has blighted the lives of so many people and their carers in the past.”