Proposals to re-organise inpatient mental health services in Lancashire are to be reviewed in light of the coalition government’s new rules on service change in the NHS.
Plans to reduce the number of hospital inpatient units and replace with purpose built inpatient facilities must be reviewed by Blackburn with Darwen NHS Teaching Care Trust Plus and the four Lancashire primary care trusts with support from doctors and mental health clinicians.
The plans were the result of an extensive public consultation in 2006, which found that people wanted more choice and access to mental health treatment and support in the community rather than in hospital.
Now the government has asked the NHS to revisit completed consultations to ensure that they meet ‘four tests’ around public and patient engagement, patient choice, clinical evidence and GP commissioner support.
Dr Malcolm Ridgway, Medical Director for Blackburn with Darwen NHS Teaching Care Trust Plus, said: “The 2006 consultation found that too many people were going into hospital and staying there simply because there were not enough suitable alternatives in their communities. The care most people with mental health problems need can be provided very effectively in communities.
“Since then there has been considerable investment in specialist community-based mental health services but we still need to make sure they are working as effectively as they can. In future GPs will be commissioners and need to be certain that there are accessible and high quality services.”
The consultation will involve service users and carers and an open meeting will take place in Blackburn with Darwen. More information, including details of local meetings, will be available on the Lancashire Mental Health and Social Care Partnership Board website at www.lancashirementalhealth.co.uk
