THE mother of a Southampton motorbike crash victim has spoken out in support of the closure of a stroke and head injury unit.

Victoria House at Southampton General Hospital will close at the end of the month.

Patients treated at the 11-bed unit will be moved to a ward in the hospital until alternative arrangements can be made.

Many patients and ex-patients have told the Daily Echo they are horrified the unit is to close, saying it helped them recover and gave them their lives back.

However Isobel Howard, whose son Wayne suffered horrific head injuries after a motorbike crash in 2000, has said she thinks patients will benefit from being treated in the general hospital.

"Victoria House should have been closed down a long time ago," she said.

She said Wayne had not benefited from his nine-month stay in the unit.

She also said she felt the unit was understaffed at times leaving patients free to wander about. She welcomed the move for patients to a more supervised environment within the hospital.

A spokesman for Southampton University Hospitals Trust said one of the reasons they were moving patients back to the hospital was to address staff numbers.

"The move to the Wessex Neurological Centre will mean more staff are available in close proximity at any one time in case of emergency, particularly at night time," she said.

However brain injury association Headway has said closing the unit makes no sense.

The charity argues Victoria House provides patients with the right kind of secure and supportive environment with staff on hand to assist and monitor the recovery process.

Vice-chairman of Headway Southampton, Professor Lindsay McLellan said: "At a time when the government is trying to raise standards of care for people with brain damage, the trust is actually closing specialist services.

"It makes no sense and the time-scale is simply brutal. The hospital needs to put patients first and rethink the whole plan."