Consultation on changes to mental health services
25/05/06
Gloucestershire Partnership NHS Trust today launches a five-week public consultation on the changes it proposes to make to mental health services. The Trust has to make a saving of £9.6m this year to achieve financial balance and pay off an overspend brought forward from last year.
The changes the organisation wishes to make are set out in the document ‘Consultation on Changes to Mental Health Services Proposed by the Gloucestershire Partnership NHS Trust’.
The Trust is publicly consulting on proposals that relate to inpatient and day hospital services for adults of working age and older people. The Trust’s consultation programme has been agreed with Gloucestershire County Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
Adult inpatient services
Adult inpatient services are currently provided at Wotton Lawn Hospital, Gloucester and Charlton Lane Centre, Cheltenham. The Trust is proposing to transfer all working age adult mental health services to Wotton Lawn Hospital, Gloucester. This will result in a smaller number of beds being available and will require that fewer admissions take place and shorter lengths of stay. The changes will be enabled by the development of 24/7 crisis home treatment teams providing additional support in patients’ homes.
Inpatient mental health services for older people
Inpatient mental health services for older people are currently provided from four sites, Weavers Croft, Stroud, Charlton Lane, Cheltenham, Holly House, Gloucester and Colliers Court, Cinderford. The proposal is to accept the conclusion of the recent Older People’s Mental Health Services Review and provide 65 beds. These will be concentrated on the Charlton Lane Centre site, Cheltenham. This will require a reduction in the number of admissions and the average length of stay.
Day Hospital Services
The Trust proposes to concentrate day hospital resources on assessment and treatment services but promote the case for more flexible and socially inclusive settings for the care of service users. The proposals will impact on older people’s mental health services at 12 sites, and six sites for adults of working age:
| Older People |
Adults of Working Age |
|
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Commenting on the proposals, Jeff James, Chief Executive, Gloucestershire Partnership NHS Trust said:
“Gloucestershire Partnership Trust needs to make significant changes to the way it delivers care in the county. We are faced with a considerable challenge because we need to reduce our spending by £9.6m
“To make this scale of saving we need to look at both the way we provide care and the number of places from where we provide it, to see how we can improve efficiency and reduce costs. At the same time we need to maintain our strong commitment to providing good quality services that are focused on people's needs.”
As part of consultation, the Trust is holding ‘Open Space’ meetings in Cheltenham, Cirencester, Coleford Gloucester, Stroud and Tewkesbury. Each ‘Open Space’ meeting will have two presentations of the Trust’s proposals, followed by a ‘Question and Answer’ session. In between these sessions, Trust staff will be available to meet members of the public to hear their views and talk about the proposals.
Talking about the consultation, Jeff James said:
“We want to use this period of consultation to explain the changes we propose and why we believe they are necessary. We want to hear the views of the people who use our services, staff, carers, the public and other key stakeholders. As well as telling us what they think about our proposals, we want to hear any alternative proposals people might have.”
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