PNP councillor urges Bellevue Hospital expansion as psychiatric wards fill up

An opposition People’s National Party councillor is pressing the government to enlarge Bellevue Hospital, arguing that Jamaica’s biggest psychiatric institution has run out of room.

Councillor Jesse James Clark, who represents the Trafalgar division, said the hospital — which houses about 400 patients across 23 wards — can no longer keep up with growing demand for mental health care. His appeal comes as work continues to strengthen the island’s health system and widen access to psychiatric services.

Drawing on experience in El Paso, Texas, Clark is also urging the Jamaica Constabulary Force to lengthen specialised training so every officer can respond when someone is in mental distress. He said El Paso extended that instruction for its police and that Jamaica should adopt a similar force-wide standard, not limit it to a few members.

He further wants a joint unit that pairs constables with mental health professionals so both sides can coordinate on crisis calls. Officers on routine patrol, he noted, regularly encounter people with diagnosed or undiagnosed conditions, making broad training essential.

Clark said the strain extends beyond policing. Mental health response teams, he argued, need more staff and vehicles. Collecting a single person in crisis can take hours, and overtime shifts struggle to reach everyone who needs help. He also wants unfinished reports kept on a continuous list instead of resetting each day, which now forces callers to file again if a case is not reached.

Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton has consistently said the government’s approach is not to grow Bellevue simply by adding beds. Officials instead aim to transform the facility and build up community-based mental health services, reducing reliance on long-term institutional care.