Trust reveals mental health care shake-up
DETAILS of what mental health services in Macclesfield will look like after a shake-up in care have been revealed.
Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Trust has submitted a planning application for work at Lime Walk House, on Victoria Road, to get it ready to house mental health provision.
It will take over following a huge campaign against moving services out of Macclesfield and making patients travel as far as Chester.
In the planning application it is said there will be 26 beds for adults and older people, 15 beds for dementia patients and six ‘local crisis beds’.
People with ‘very complex needs’ will have seen beds provided but in Chester of Wirral.
The application, which has been submitted to Cheshire East Council for approval, asks permission for an extension to the existing unit to help house this and the demolition of nearby Springbank House to make way for a 21-space car park.
Dr Paul Bowen, clinical chair of NHS Eastern Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), said: “These enhanced community services focus on early intervention and prevention in order to support people with severe mental health problems to lead fulfilling lives in their communities.”
The 26 adult beds will be in what is described as an ‘acute lite mixed ward’.
The application states that the additional bedrooms are ‘well located to be able to swing beds which will allow for the variation in the male/female split’.
A de-escalation suite will also be provided on the site and other facilities will be en suite bedrooms, therapy spaces, courtyard and garden access, group activity spaces and a multi-sensory room.
A report submitted with the trust’s application says: “The development forms part of a large drive to provide local support and places within the mental health category.
“This will enable the trust to provide a better service and reduce the numbers of out of area beds.”
A consultation into major changes in mental health provision in Cheshire by CCGs saw large opposition to plans for mental health services being moved Macclesfield.
This led to the consideration – and then adoption – of another option of keeping services in the town and moving them from the Millbrook Unit to Lime Walk House. out of