Stopping Point 7

16. The Highfield Unit

Planning permission was granted in 2009 to build the existing Highfield Unit for Adolescents and Young People. The building, designed by Gray Baines and Shew, was completed in 2012 on the site of the former cricket pitch. The unit provides inpatient treatment for 18 young people aged between 11 and 18. The unit also offers a day patient service for up to four young people.

The Warneford began providing specialist services for young people in 1958, when the Park Hospital was repurposed from its original function as a Hospital for the Treatment of Nervous Disorders (which opened in 1938, adding another 26 beds and bringing the Warneford’s total to c.130). The original Park House building has since been extensively refitted and is now known as Boundary Brook House. It is used for administrative, rather than clinical, purposes.

The Park Hospital (purchased by the Warneford Estate in 1933), photographed here in 1992, was repurposed as a specialist unit for young people in 1958. Credit: Oxfordshire Health Archives OHA XXXX — The Park Hospital (purchased by the Warneford Estate in 1933), photographed here in 1992, was repurposed as a specialist unit for young people in 1958.
Credit: Oxfordshire History Archives POX0582277

A new facility for adolescents and young people, the Highfield Unit, was built on the site of the former cricket pitch in 2012. Cricket, and other sports, were important aspects of patient recovery. Here, Warneford patients and staff playing a cricket match in 1903.
Credit: Oxfordshire History Centre POX0582908

The reception area of the Warneford’s Highfield Unit for Adolescents and Young People. Service-users were involved in creating the design of the interior. Credit: Tom CoxCredit: Oxfordshire History Centre POX0582908 — The reception area of the Warneford’s Highfield Unit for Adolescents and Young People. Service-users were involved in creating the design of the interior.
Credit: Tom Cox

17. The Meadow Unit (PICU)

The Meadow Unit at Warneford Hospital opened in 2023 and is designed to help children experiencing a serious mental disorder receive treatment closer to home.

The eight-bed unit, planned over many years, offers recreational facilities and access to education. The £6m building includes a seclusion suite, de-escalation room, school rooms and an outside gym and sports area. Patients have access to professionally qualified staff 24 hours a day, seven days a week, offering skilled mental and physical health care.

The facility, close to Warneford Meadow, was given its name by young people and staff to reflect the “setting and commitment to providing a highly specialised therapeutic environment for patients”. It features art works produced by patients from Highland NHS’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), in collaboration with a local artist, supported by the Oxford Health Charity and Oxford Arts Partnership.

Oxford Arts Partnership Manager Tom Cox, said that young people played a part not only in designing artwork, but in choosing all the colours and themes surrounding the building “before there was even a spade in the ground”. He added that the artwork has been designed to be interactive and “robust” so it could withstand “whatever life throws at it”.

Images: Artwork inside/outside the unit – Tom Cox has supplied/on the drive

The Meadow Unit for children opened in 2023. Service-users helped to create the mosaic sign on the outside of the building. Credit: Tom Cox

These mosaic plaques were designed with input from service-users who also chose the wording.
Credit: Tom Cox

Artwork created by Rachel Barbaresi on the wall of the reception area in the Meadow Unit. Credit: Tom Cox

We would like to thank Donald Insall Associates for their research input into creation of the Warneford Walk.

Stopping Point 7

Audio Guide

16. The Highfield Unit

17. The Meadow Unit (PICU)

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