San Diego, Calif.-based Rady Children’s Hospital plans to break ground in July on a three-story behavioral health building that will double its mental healthcare capacity from 24 to 48 beds, all in single rooms, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported on Dec. 29.
The facility, to be built on the hospital’s Serra Mesa medical campus, will house the inpatient Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Services unit.It is expected to open in late 2028 or early 2029.
Emergency psychiatric services will quadruple in size, growing from six to 24 beds, according to the report. The new building will also include a partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient program designed to serve about 70 patients per day.
Payal Beam, vice president of Rady’s Mental, Behavioral and Developmental Services Institute, told the Tribune the system opted to scale back inpatient beds from a planned 60 in favor of expanded outpatient care. The move aims to provide more flexible support before and after inpatient treatment, she said.
From 2018 to 2022, Rady Children’s emergency department saw a 161% increase in children presenting with suicidal ideation.
