The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Stracathro unit to close after ‘sham’ consultation NHS Tayside review of mental health centres slated by MSPs, as Angus site faces closure
Mulberry Unit in Angus looks likely to be shut down permanently
MSPs from both sides of the political divide have raised grave concerns over the looming closure of an Angus mental health unit.
North East Scotland Tory MSP Liam Kerr and Angus North and Mearns SNP MSP Mairi Evans hit out after NHS Tayside effectively sounded the death knell for the Mulberry Unit at Stracathro Hospital near Brechin.
NHS Tayside – which shut the Angus unit in February due to junior doctor shortages – had already put the facility under the microscope as it considered closing one or two of its three adult mental health centres.
The preferred option now identified and supported by NHS Tayside clinical staff is for a single site at the Carseview Centre in Dundee, which would close the Mulberry Unit and the Moredun ward at Murray Royal in Perth. Mr Kerr called the consultation “little more than a sham” and Ms Evans said she is “extremely disappointed but, sadly, not surprised”.
Consultation over mental health services in Tayside has been branded “a sham” after NHS Tayside effectively sounded the death knell for the Mulberry Unit at Stracathro Hospital yesterday.
The psychiatric unit was temporarily closed in February because of a shortage of junior doctors but it now appears set to be permanently shut down.
Since then NHS Tayside has been reviewing its mental health services after deciding it was no longer sustainable or safe to run general adult psychiatry (GAP) inpatient services at three different sites across Tayside: the Mulberry Unit, Carseview in Dundee and Murray Royal Hospital in Perth.
NHS Tayside has now said its preferred option is to create a single site for GAP admissions at the Carseview Centre.
Learning disability inpatient services would be centralised at Murray Royal Hospital but it would also lose GAP services.
If the plans go ahead, there will no longer be any psychiatric units in Angus.
The final decision on whether to approve the plans will fall to Perth Integrated Joint Board on June 30.
North East Scotland Conservative MSP Liam Kerr said he believes NHS Tayside has always intended to close the Mulberry Unit.
He added: “The consultation has been little more than a sham, and I am furious that my worst suspicions have now been proved correct.”
Mairi Evans, SNP MSP for Angus North and Mearns, said: “The decision is now over to the NHS board and the three integration joint boards of Angus, Perth and Dundee.
“It also appears that the final say on the closure of the Mulberry Unit will lie with those in the Perth IJB.
“I am concerned that, while they are consulted throughout, members of the Angus IJB will not have the final word over the potential closure of a facility that opened just six years ago at the cost of £20 million.
“What happens if the members of the Angus IJB oppose the closure but the Perth IJB agree to it? Are the people of Angus then being truly represented?”
NHS Tayside medical director Professor Andrew Russell said: “It has long been recognised that providing GAP services across three sites is not a sustainable model of care for our patients.
“From this it has become clear that a one-site model for both general acute psychiatry and learning disability services would be the most sustainable option.”
If the plan is approved consultation will be available at www.tayside mentalhealthredesign.scot.nhs.uk from July 3 and run until October.