Worries aired over Carseview ‘centre of excellence’ plan
Single site for mental health care
There is “considerable concern” over plans to centralise Tayside’s inpatient mental health services to Carseview.
Opposition to the proposal was voiced by members of the Perth and Kinross Integration Joint Board when it met on September 29.
The centralisation of inpatient services is part of the Mental Health and Learning Disability Redesign Programme.
The programme has proposed centralising Tayside inpatient mental health services to Dundee and inpatient learning disability services to Perth.
Chief officer Gordon Paterson said the programme sought to “create centres of excellence that would ensure service sustainability, safety and quality while making best use of the available and finite workforce”.
But at Wednesday afternoon’s meeting board members raised worries about Carseview being chosen as the single site for inpatient mental health services.
Public partner service user representative Sandra Auld told the board: “I’ve not been party to the work that’s been used to arrive at that conclusion but I can absolutely assure the board that the feedback we are getting from service users is that is absolutely not - in no way, shape or form - their preferred option.
“And if that option is to go ahead it really does seem like riding roughshod over the wishes of people in the community.”
She asked for clarity on what the latest was on this.
Chief officer Gordon Paterson said he acknowledged apprehension about Carseview being identified as the single site in his report to the board.
In his report he said: “While the Stakeholder Participation Group felt able to support a single site for inpatient services in Dundee, they expressed concerns about this being at Carseview, as they had concerns that the public perception was a barrier in supporting confidence in the site.”
He told the board this was offset with “some people who have had a good experience there who don’t share those concerns so there needs to be a balance between the views of stakeholders, the clinical imperatives and the opportunities to ensure the service is delivered at the highest quality”.
He said to the board he would look for clarity on the latest situation with this proposal.
Sandy Watts from Third Sector Forum said there was “considerable concern” at a recent meeting of the forum about Carseview being the recommended option.
She asked for assurance there would be equal representation of service users, carers and representatives from the third sector on the short-life working group being convened to assess the suitability of Carseview.
Mr Paterson said he did not know the plans for the shortlife working group but said the Stakeholder Participation Group had been “key” to providing scrutiny, engagement and input into the work done since David Strang’s report of the independent inquiry into mental health services in Tayside was published.
The chief officer told the IJB he was sure the stakeholder participation group would be well represented in the short-life working group.
...it really does seem like riding roughshod over the wishes of people in the community