Por Redaccion 
The President of the Andalusian Government, Juanma Moreno, has emphasized the commitment of the Andalusian Government to mental health, its prevention, and early detection. This is evidenced by the fact that since 2021, 300 new staff members have been added, increasing from 2,950 to 3,250, including 26 psychologists and psychiatrists as suicide prevention references for each Clinical Management Unit of Mental Health and another 26 professionals in specialized units for child and adolescent care. He stated that the ongoing goal is for all Andalusian provinces to have units for the hospitalization of Child and Adolescent Mental Health.
Moreno visited the Mental Health Unit at the Virgen del Rocío Hospital in Seville and affirmed that after remodeling works costing over one and a half million euros, this hospital is now a more comfortable, modern, and clinically effective place to provide the best care in the best environment.
«Here arrive people who are admitted in a very vulnerable state, and these rooms, their courtyard, and terrace provide positive elements for their recovery.»
He highlighted that after the renovation, this unit now has twenty-six beds in fourteen rooms, two of them individual and the rest double, in addition to a spacious occupational therapy room and ten clinical consultation rooms.
The Andalusian President emphasized that this intervention has allowed all the necessary areas of care for these patients to be integrated in one place, avoiding transfers from one place to another to focus on patients in need of temporary hospitalization and in a moment of exacerbation of their condition.
In this sense, he stated that the result is a unit as if it were a small hospital within another hospital with specific security measures, including surveillance cameras for patient safety and nursing control, providing humane and quality care in a friendly environment.
Moreno touring the Mental Health Unit at the Virgen del Rocío Hospital in Seville.
He emphasized that one of the key points of this reform has been the importance given to open spaces such as the courtyard with vegetation equipped with outdoor sports equipment and the new playful outdoor terrace that provides more light and outdoor space for the patient and their families, which, he said, significantly improves the emotional and mental well-being, making the time patients spend away from their families or usual environments more bearable.
«In these spaces, they will be able to carry out play activities, relaxation, and group therapies. The courtyard and terrace make this unit one of the few that have these spaces on a hospitalization floor of a general hospital.»
Moreno stated that the first patients from the San Lázaro Mental Health will start being admitted to this new unit, while also mentioning that urgent patients and those continuing treatment after discharge will be cared for here within the thirteen Mental Health facilities of the Clinical Management Unit.
Visit inside one of the rooms at the Unit.
At this point, he explained that this completed work is part of the Mental Health Plan of the Virgen del Rocío University Hospital, a planning that aims to adapt the infrastructure to the current demand for care and modernize the facilities to achieve more direct and humane patient care.
The President of the Junta recalled that, since 2022, many other works have already been carried out, including the renovation of individual use rooms at the Children’s Hospital or the therapy room for eating disorders at the Women’s Hospital, as well as the exterior conditioning and sports courts of the therapeutic community and the Mental Health Day Hospital of Los Bermejales on the Muñoz Cariñanos Hospital campus.
Furthermore, he emphasized that this year, the differentiation of child and adolescent circuits at the Community Mental Health Unit of Sanlúcar La Mayor has also been completed. «Mental Health care is one of the most firm challenges and commitments of this legislature. This translates into better facilities and more human resources because it is the work of professionals that makes the difference.»
Juanma Moreno conversing with some of the professionals working at the Unit.
In conclusion, he added that the Junta is determined to continue making great efforts in mental health care and to keep working so that Andalusians have the best possible public health system overall, an effort that, he assured, «has led us, in the last six years, to equip ourselves with about 70 new infrastructures with an investment of 2.8 billion euros, including seven hospitals, five day hospitals, and up to eighteen health centers,» in addition to a Public Employment offer that approaches 22,000 new healthcare workers.
«In 2025, we dedicate a third of the Junta’s budget to the healthcare system, that is, 15 billion euros, which clearly shows the priority we give to healthcare from the Andalusian Government.»
The event also had the presence of the Hospital Virgen del Rocío’s Managing Director, Nieves Romero, and the Health and Consumer Affairs Counselor, Rocío Hernández.