Closure of beds for mentally ill approved (From Daily Echo)
When news happens, text SDE and your photos or videos to 80360. Or contact us by email and phone.
Closure of beds for mentally ill approved
11:00am Wednesday 25th January 2012 in Health
Twenty-four beds will close at Woodhaven in Calmore
CONTROVERSIAL plans to close nearly a third of hospital beds for people suffering from severe mental illness in Hampshire have been approved.
It means plans can now press ahead to close 24 beds at Woodhaven in Calmore along with 24 beds at the Meadows in Sarisbury Green over the next three months.
This would see the loss of 48 of the 165 acute beds currently available across the county.
Members of the health overview and scrutiny committee of Hampshire County Council yesterday said they were satisfied the change from hospital to more homebased care was “in the interests of service users and their carers.”
The decision enables the Southern Health Foundation Trust (SHFT) to move forward with their closure plan.
Concerns raised during a public consultation have been addressed by SHFT said the committee – including greater demands on family carers. But New Forest East MP Dr Julian Lewis has vowed to keep fighting to stop the Calmore closure.
In a ten-page report to Health Minister Paul Burstow, Dr Lewis is demanding an independent audit to show how many beds are used before nearly a third of them are axed.
He claims it is “wrong and dangerous” to reduce inpatient beds when they have a high occupancy rate which he says is 90 per cent.
Dr Lewis has warned of a potential increase in suicides among the mentally ill. He claims the SHFT have used “inconsistent”
and “unreliable” statistics to force through their plans – a claim the trust denies.
As previously reported, SHFT aims to save £4.8m over the next three years, £1.5m of which would be ploughed into strengthening “hospital at home” treatment.
Dr Lesley Stevens, clinical director of SHFT, told councillors there had been more vacant beds since new community care initiatives were rolled out last September. Speaking at yesterday’s meeting, she said there had been “20 to 30 empty beds which is unprecedented in the service over the last few years.”
Dr Stevens said the aim was to modernise mental health provision to better meet the needs of service users and carers.
The foundation trust plans to transform Woodhaven into a lowsecurity unit for people with complex mental health problems who are currently treated outside of the county because of lack of local provision.
Melbury Lodge in Winchester will remain open under the plans.
Comments(17)
Stillness
says...
11:44am Wed 25 Jan 12
dango wrote:With luck and a following wind, Belarus.
where will Southy go then?! :)
Frogham Ferret
says...
11:47am Wed 25 Jan 12
Having just experienced in home care, I can tell you it's a shambles!
Typical cost cutting, by DR Lewis's party
southy
says...
11:54am Wed 25 Jan 12
Frogham Ferret wrote:more so when you look at the Trust board wages that come to £1 million.
Won't be the firstv time this Primary Health CARE trust ( or its predecessors) have used dodgy stats to justify closure of small hospitals.
Having just experienced in home care, I can tell you it's a shambles!
Typical cost cutting, by DR Lewis's party
Lewis just jump on the band wagon that the Socialist Party started to fight these cuts in the NHS.
Stillness
says...
11:58am Wed 25 Jan 12
Frogham Ferret wrote:I certainly do not want to see the loss of any inpatient facilities but I would have to disagree with you on the home care team. If it wasn't for them I would probably not be around now enjoying all of southy's posts. Maybe you just got unlucky.
Won't be the firstv time this Primary Health CARE trust ( or its predecessors) have used dodgy stats to justify closure of small hospitals.
Having just experienced in home care, I can tell you it's a shambles!
Typical cost cutting, by DR Lewis's party
Linesman
says...
12:53pm Wed 25 Jan 12
With that in mind, maybe this is just a figment of someone's imagination.
Huffter
says...
1:04pm Wed 25 Jan 12
sass
says...
1:27pm Wed 25 Jan 12
Huffter wrote:I expect they will sleep in cardboard boxes beneath an over pass, once they stop taking their medications.
It seems a bit unfair to expect mentally ill people to sleep standing up.
CyberWarrior
says...
1:46pm Wed 25 Jan 12
southy
says...
2:00pm Wed 25 Jan 12
Linesman wrote:I know I could not stop laughing.
Have just listened to PM's Question Time. He was challenged about the closure of such facilities, and he denied it was happening.
With that in mind, maybe this is just a figment of someone's imagination.
sass
says...
2:02pm Wed 25 Jan 12
CyberWarrior wrote:Some comments are disgraceful, and some are right on the money...emphasis being the money!
Some of the childish and ignorant comments on here are disgraceful. Why do some people that think severe mental illness is a joke? Do you find physical illness, such as cancer, just as amusing? Turfing severely mentally ill people out of hospital so that they can be 'cared for at home' is often more pressure than their families can bear. Lack of specialist care for the mentally ill can in some cases present a very real danger to the paitients themselves, their families and the general public. Keep up the fight Dr Lewis and good on you for making a stand.
Have you considered that the digs are aimed at the clowns making these shameful cost cutting proposals?
southy
says...
2:03pm Wed 25 Jan 12
CyberWarrior wrote:I agree with you on most of it, but Lewis jump on the bandwagon for the sake of his political career
Some of the childish and ignorant comments on here are disgraceful. Why do some people that think severe mental illness is a joke? Do you find physical illness, such as cancer, just as amusing? Turfing severely mentally ill people out of hospital so that they can be 'cared for at home' is often more pressure than their families can bear. Lack of specialist care for the mentally ill can in some cases present a very real danger to the paitients themselves, their families and the general public. Keep up the fight Dr Lewis and good on you for making a stand.
Stillness
says...
2:12pm Wed 25 Jan 12
southy wrote:He told you that did he?
CyberWarrior wrote:I agree with you on most of it, but Lewis jump on the bandwagon for the sake of his political career
Some of the childish and ignorant comments on here are disgraceful. Why do some people that think severe mental illness is a joke? Do you find physical illness, such as cancer, just as amusing? Turfing severely mentally ill people out of hospital so that they can be 'cared for at home' is often more pressure than their families can bear. Lack of specialist care for the mentally ill can in some cases present a very real danger to the paitients themselves, their families and the general public. Keep up the fight Dr Lewis and good on you for making a stand.
Torchie1
says...
2:44pm Wed 25 Jan 12
southy wrote:At least he's actually got one!
CyberWarrior wrote:I agree with you on most of it, but Lewis jump on the bandwagon for the sake of his political career
Some of the childish and ignorant comments on here are disgraceful. Why do some people that think severe mental illness is a joke? Do you find physical illness, such as cancer, just as amusing? Turfing severely mentally ill people out of hospital so that they can be 'cared for at home' is often more pressure than their families can bear. Lack of specialist care for the mentally ill can in some cases present a very real danger to the paitients themselves, their families and the general public. Keep up the fight Dr Lewis and good on you for making a stand.
Solent Lass
says...
6:43pm Wed 25 Jan 12
Rob444
says...
8:44pm Wed 25 Jan 12
"Care in the Community - 2".
Taskforce 141
says...
9:17am Thu 26 Jan 12
As always pick on the weak and the vulnerable...
dango says...
11:30am Wed 25 Jan 12