Express calling for health services to stay in borough

Closure move part of five-year plan

THE Macclesfield Express is calling on NHS bosses to abandon plans to move health services out of the borough.

Residents are to be asked which inpatient service should remain locally when the Millbrook Unit closes – either mental health support or dementia care – with the other moved to Chester.

The Express says these are both essential services which should be provided locally and it is unfair to ask residents which should go. It is akin to asking them which arm they would like chopping off and handing them the surgeon’s knife.

As one reader eloquently put it, NHS bosses need to realise that hospitals are a key part of our community, not something separate which can be transferred 40 miles down the road without having a ‘devastating impact’ locally.

Both of these services are there to provide support for some of the most vulnerable members of the community.

Making them travel to Chester to access care is inevitably going to result in more hardship and anxiety for them and their families at a time when they need help most.

There is opposition to these proposals right across the community - and we stand squarely with those fighting these proposals. Once again our message to NHS bosses is ‘hands off our health services’. PLANS to close the Millbrook Unit are part of a five year plan by Eastern Cheshire NHS Trust.

The move will see services offered by the East Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), South Cheshire CCG and Vale Royal CCG combined.

The three final options have now been outlined, which residents will be consulted on:

OPTION 1: Close the Millbrook Unit, provide inpatient care for dementia patients at Lime Walk House, on Victoria Road, and send all other adult mental health patients to a Bowmere Hospital in Chester

OPTION 2: Close the Millbrook Unit, provide inpatient care for adults with acute mental health problems at Lime Walk House and send dementia patients to Bowmere Hospital in Chester.

OPTION 3: Do nothing. Although this formally remains an option, health bosses say it is not possible because Millbrook Unit is no longer fit for purpose.