A new drug and alcohol treatment centre will open in Heswall this Winter.
Dee House will be a residential detox centre run by Kaleidoscope, a charity drug clinic that provides help and support to people with alcohol abuse, drug abuse and drug addiction. Kaleidoscope has been providing such services in the UK since 1968 and currently runs Birchwood Treatment Centre in Birkenhead.
Birchwood is a 20-bed facility and one of the few centres in the North West providing medically monitored inpatient detox. But Kaleidoscope will close the doors of their Birkenhead base later this year, with a view to beginning services at Dee House from late November.
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Kaleidoscope’s CEO, Martin Blakebrough, told the ECHO : “The reason why we’ve moved is we felt we wanted to own the premises which we couldn’t do in Birkenhead. We also felt Birchwood was a bit too crammed.
"The new site allows us to provide en suites and larger rooms and the location is better in the sense there’s more space to wander outside. We don’t want to be too near pubs and off licences, as they’re just a temptation away. It’s in a beautiful spot where if you were looking to recover from any illness, it would be great.”
Dee House is a 25-bed facility and was once used as a privately-run mental health hospital for young people. And Martin is keen to assuage any concerns that local residents might have about the service opening in Heswall.
He said: “We’re dealing with the intense medical bit so it does have a minimal impact on local residents. The people who are with us aren’t particularly well so we don’t encourage that many people from their friends network to come and visit them but its really important they’re in nice surroundings because, if you’re not feeling well, being able to walk around in the garden and get some fresh air helps you to feel better.
“It won’t make any great material difference to residents. The site was previously used as a place for young people with mental health issues which, while really important, is a far more challenging group. For someone in detox, the age profile is probably someone in their 40s.”
Martin describes the current facility in Birkenhead as an “essential service” to people in Wirral, with around 60% of service users coming from the borough. However, people can come from all over the country to detox at Kaleidoscope’s specialist centre.
Martin said: “Geographically, people can come from anywhere. Kaleidoscope provides most of its services in Wales so people can come from Wales to Wirral. People can also come from London or Newcastle or Middlesbrough.
“The typical resident would be someone who is medically addicted to a substance so they need a period of medical intervention. We have nurses as well as project workers who are making their stay with us as comfortable as possible. After three weeks, they might then relocate to somewhere else like Phoenix House in Bidston. That’s much more flexible and people are free to come and go because they’re normally there for a much longer period.”
Kaleidoscope is hoping to run an open day at Dee House later this year, so that people in the local area can find out more information about the facility and how it might impact on the community.
Martin said: “If local residents would like to come and see the building, we’re always quite open to that and we are planning to have an open day nearer to the time.”
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