Closure of long stay mental health facilities in tune with Gransha plans

THE Western Trust says a health review proposal to close all long-stay psychiatric institutions by 2015 chimes with its plans for Gransha and Lakeview in Londonderry.

The Gransha complex was once home to over 500 people with mental health problems but now only 14 are resident.

Yesterday the publication of the review of health and social care by Health Minister Edwin Poots recommended that all long-stay institutions in Northern Ireland be closed by 2015 with more impetus on developing community services.

A spokesperson for the Trust said the proposal was in line with its plans for mental health provision and its plans to build a new £10m acute mental health care unit at Gransha, which will open next year.

The new unit will provide integrated acute and intensive care mental health assessment and treatment for 30 patients as well as day care and community based support facilities for 25 places including a 24/7 integrated crisis team.

A spokesperson told the paper people suffering psychoses will get the care they need at the new unit should they require it.

“Anyone who requires to be admitted due to their condition to an assessment and treatment hospital will be accommodated accordingly. Those that can be managed within the community will be in receipt of a community care package that will meet their needs,” the spokesperson stated.

The ‘Transforming Your Care’ report states: “A critical element in changing how things are done for this client group is to end long-term residency of people in mental health and learning disability hospitals.

“To date, 181 long-stay mental health patients have been discharged to the community. There are currently 150 long stay psychiatric inpatients who should be resettled into the community.”

It adds: “The Review urges an absolute commitment to completing the resettlement process by 2015 as planned, and ensuring that the required community services are in place to prevent the emergence of a new long-stay population.

“This should include developing models of treatment for children and young people, and those with specialist mental health needs, for example in the areas of learning disability and psychiatry of old age.”

The review says more support should be available from people’s homes and that ‘virtual wards’ should be developed.

“Virtual wards will also be developed. Under this model, individuals are admitted into the care of specialist teams, and provided with similar care as would be available in a hospital ward, but remain in their own home.

“Mental health treatment services will also be available at home, provided by Crisis Response and Home Treatment teams. This will result in reductions in inpatient care,” it says.

Regional Secretary of UNISON Patricia McKeown said the ‘virtual wards’ proposal was vague and that whilst the trade union supported the Bamford report’s recommendations in terms of resettlement of mental health patients there was no evidence the money to provide specialist services to do this was in the system.

“The ‘virtual wards’ proposal is light on content, as are many of the proposals. We need to know see the evaluations existing models,” she told the Sentinel.

“We support Bamford which has made comprehensive recommendations on a 4 tier model of care for children, young people and adults.

“The resettlement of long stay young people and young adults at Muckamore was subject to investigation by the NI Human Rights Commission and should have been completed several years ago but the Belfast Trust that it did not have the money to do so.

“It is also not simply a question of moving from long term institutional care to home - it requires specialist facilities and services. No evidence that the money to implement Bamford is in the system.”

She also blasted the overall review as a reiteration of Health and Social Care Board Chief Executive John Compton’s Commissioning Plan which she said proposed the privatisation and outsourcing of residential care and domiciliary care for older people; a reduction in acute hospitals; and cuts to health budgets.

“This matches core proposals in the Review. The narrative in the Review is not new. Many of the proposals have been made in the past by unions and other stakeholders. Many of the proposals are long overdue but they require investment,” she stated.

“However when we come to the core of the report we find: 5 per cent reduction in hospital services budget; a pathetic increase of only 2 per cent in the social services budget; a wholly inadequate 3 per cent increase in the Family Services budget and a mere 9 per cent increase in the community services budget.

“None of this comes anywhere near the resources needed for mental health, care of older persons or children’s services and much of it is a charter for privatisation,” she concluded.