MSP slams Mulberry closure as ‘absurd’

War of words between local politician and NHS

A ferocious war of words has broken out between a local MSP and NHS Tayside as an end to a public consultation on the possible closure of an Angus mental health unit draws near.

Mairi Gougeon, SNP MSP for Angus North and Mearns, claims the mooted closure of the Stracathro-based Mulberry Unit would be “absurd” considering the health board will continue to pay for the unit until 2042 due to a PFI contract arrangement.

NHS Tayside hit back at Ms Gougeon and said any suggestion that the unit would no longer be used was “simply not true” as it could be used to provide other health and care services instead.

Ms Gougeon said: “The fact that this facility will still have to be paid for several decades after it potentially closes is ludicrous.”

The health board’s three-month public consultation on mental health and learning disability services will end tomorrow.

The possible closure of an Angus mental health facility has been branded “absurd” by an MSP after it was revealed NHS Tayside will be paying for the unit for the next 25 years.

The health board’s annual accounts for 2011/12 show the facility, which opened in 2012, will not be paid off under PFI arrangements until 2042.

A three-month public consultation on mental health and learning disability services runs until tomorrow.

NHS Tayside’s preferred option would see the Mulberry Unit closing, with acute mental health care transferred to the Carseview Centre in Dundee.

NHS Tayside state any suggestion that the ward would no longer be used if the mental health unit closed was “simply not true” as it would be used to provide other health and care services instead.

“Clearly, any proposal to close the unit just five years after it first opened, would have to be considered a huge waste of public money. MSP MAIRI GOUGEON

However, Mairi Gougeon, SNP MSP for Angus North and Mearns, said of the contract: “This highlights the absurdity of any proposal to close the Mulberry Unit.

“Clearly, any proposal to close the unit just five years after it first opened, would have to be considered a huge waste of public money.

“The fact that this facility will still have to be paid for several decades after it potentially closes is ludicrous.”

An NHS Tayside spokesperson refuted Mrs Gougeon’s claims that the unit would no longer be used and said: “The Susan Carnegie Centre is a stateof-the-art facility at Stracathro Hospital and is a vital asset from which we will provide high quality health and care services.

“There are, in fact, three wards at the centre delivering inpatient care. Two psychiatry of old age wards which are fully operational today and the Mulberry Ward.

“If, following the ... consultation, it is decided that general adult psychiatry inpatient care will be provided at the Carseview Centre for all Tayside patients, then the existing Mulberry Ward will be used to provide other health and care services. To suggest the ward area would remain closed and unused is simply not true.”

jkeith@thecourier.co.uk

MSP Mairi Gougeon.