A LACK of co-ordination between key agencies and a lack of cash - these are two of the problems highlighted in a critical report into why four men died after being sent out into the community from a doomed Basingstoke hostel for the homeless.

Yesterday afternoon saw the publication of the much-awaited report that looked into why four former residents of Beechwood Lodge died after it was closed down.

Although the publication of the report - commissioned by Basingstoke council and produced by Frank Rust, the independent chairman of the Community Health Council - was still surrounded by secrecy at the time The Basingstoke Extra went to press, we can reveal the main points.

These are:

* The report highlights the lack of co-ordination between the relevant statutory agencies as the root cause of the problems.

* Although there was no question that each was working for the benefit of the hostel's residents, the agencies were working to different timescales.

* It points to a shortage of money in the Hampshire County Council social services budget as another difficulty that substantially hampered efforts to help former residents.

* It indicates that such an unfortunate set of circumstances is less likely to happen in future because of the Government's new Supporting People guidelines to care for the vulnerable in the wider community.

* The guidelines will help situations like the Beechwood Lodge closure because they require closer working between the various organisations and tying in of budgets to social services and social housing in a more co-ordinated way.

Details of the report were leaked to The Basingstoke Extra by a source close to the inquiry, prior to its author, Mr Rust, revealing its contents at a media briefing yesterday afternoon.

The council called for an independent investigation in March after it came to light that four vulnerable former residents of Beechwood Lodge - Joe Gildea (pictured), 54, of Sandys Road, South Ham, Alexander Deas, 66, of Colyer Close, South Ham, Peter Swain, 49, of Domitian Gardens, Rooksdown, and Anthony Spong, 64, of Tennyson Way, South Ham - had died since its closure.

In April, Mr Rust published an urgent interim report calling for all vulnerable ex-residents to be contacted to ascertain the amount of support they were receiving.

He said that some ex-residents may have been vulnerable and had not been classified as such.

He suggested they should all be traced through records kept by Stonham Housing Association, which had run Beechwood Lodge.

At that time, he recommended that an investigation should be conducted into the level and amount of support given by housing associations to vulnerable residents.

It was two years ago that The Basingstoke Extra's sister paper, The Gazette, first reported fears "that vulnerable people will be left on the streets" after it was announced that the 80-bed Beechwood Lodge in Priestley Road was to close.

These fears were dismissed by a spokesman for Stonham who said: "People can rest assured that no-one will fall through the net."

In May 2000, The Gazette carried a story headlined "Alarmed MP joins fight to save hostel", in which Basingstoke MP Andrew Hunter - referring to the closure of the facility - said: "This is a disturbing decision. I cannot believe it is the right way to proceed. Beechwood Lodge provides accommodation for up to 80 people, many of whom are highly vulnerable."

The Gazette's opinion column in December 2000 said the experience of Park Prewett hospital - where eight elderly patients died within four months of them being transferred to separate homes following its closure - was a warning sign of what could happen when the system let vulnerable people down.

The four ex-residents of Beechwood Lodge - who all suffered from severe drink problems - were transferred out into the community as part of the Lodge's "move-on" scheme during the two years prior to its closure.

The most recent of the four who died - 66-year-old Alexander Deas - lay dead in his home in Colyer Close, South Ham, for three weeks before his body was discovered in January this year.

Graeme Willis, from Basingstoke Action On Single Homelessness, was not surprised the report highlighted the lack of co-ordination between agencies.

He said: "People have been working in splendid isolation. I know from past experience where statutory agencies have a fairly tight remit. If people don't fit within set boxes, agencies absolve themselves of all responsibility.

"I hope the authorities have learned from the deficiencies of the different agencies involved. They are certainly talking to each more to provide better support for homeless people now, but more direction and resources are needed.

"They know they have to work better in the future. There has been a change in approach in the last six months, but it is not co-ordinated."

Alan Holley, 39, from South Ham, lived at Beechwood Lodge for just over five years.

Like many former residents, he is very critical about the way residents were dealt with when the hostel closed.

He said: "The agencies didn't work together, even though we were told at a meeting at Beechwood Lodge in 1993 or 1994 that staff would be trained in looking after us, so we could cope more on the outside - but this didn't happen, there was no support. If staff had been trained, things would have been a lot different."

* See Gazette on Friday for the latest on this story.