A new mental health centre planned at Maitland Hospital campus has progressed to the planning and design phase, boosting a sector in crisis.
NSW Minister for Mental Health Rose Jackson said a project team had been appointed for the work.
The plan involves moving the forensic services at Morisset Hospital to the Maitland centre at Metford.
Plans are expected to be lodged with the city council this year, with construction at Maitland unlikely to begin before 2025.
Morisset staff and patients were "unlikely to be required to move" into the new centre until late 2026 at the earliest.
The new centre will provide "rehabilitation models of mental health care" and include general and forensic mental health services for adults.
This includes offenders who committed crimes due to mental illness and people with behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia.
Non-acute mental health inpatient services will also be available for patients over 18, requiring recovery and/or rehabilitation from a mental health condition.
Admission to the unit may be voluntary or involuntary under the Mental Health Act.
The services will be available to the Hunter and surrounding communities, giving hope to people seeking more mental health treatments.
Ms Jackson said that combining the new mental health centre with Maitland Hospital would provide better "wrap around support".
This meant support for people seeking treatment for "mental and physical health issues".
Maitland MP Jenny Aitchinson said "Maitland is an important hub in the Hunter Region".
"The addition of a mental health facility in our emerging health precinct will provide vital services for people in Maitland and surrounding areas," Ms Aitchison said.
The plans include moving the Kestrel medium secure forensic unit from Morisset to Maitland.
Maitland will also gain new "low secure forensic beds".
"All services and units operating at Morisset Hospital will eventually transfer off the site, but not all services are moving to Maitland Hospital," the project's website stated.
The remaining services at Morisset, including the neuropsychiatry unit and rehabilitation cottages, are not part of the Maitland project.
Plans are being made to move those services elsewhere.
Some staff have raised concerns about the move, particularly those who live on the Central Coast.
However, the government said Morisset Hospital was "an old facility that is no longer able to support modern mental health services".
The government has vowed, however, to conduct "extensive consultation" with staff.
"All affected staff will be offered jobs at the new facility and supported to help adjust to the change."
Ms Jackson added that there would be "more opportunities" for staff to "have input on shaping the new facility as the project progresses".
She said this would also apply to clinicians and people with "lived experience of mental health" and the broader community.
"This is crucial to ensuring it can best meet the needs of communities across the region," she said.
Health Infrastructure NSW and Hunter New England Health are running the project.
The project team was appointed following a competitive tender process.
Bates Smart will be the architect to design the centre, while Turner and Townsend will be the project manager and MBM the cost manager.
A master plan and a concept design is expected to be complete by mid-year.
