Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Mental health ward closure plan ‘woeful’
THE wife of a Falklands War veteran with PTSD has made an emotional plea to scrap mental health reforms.
Bev Anderson and other campaigners have called for a decision to close St Andrew’s Ward within the Priory Health Park in Wells to be overturned.
The closure, which involves relocating the 14 mental health beds to Yeovil, was approved by the Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group in August 2020 but has been repeatedly postponed.
Now the campaigners have called on Somerset County Council and the Somerset Integrated Care Board (ICB) to reverse the closure, stating that the well-being of patients would be damaged if their families had to travel up to 30 miles to see them.
The council has said the relocation would provide better access to emergency services as and when they were needed, and that individual transport issues would be taken into account.
There are four mental health wards in Somerset – two in Taunton, one in Yeovil and St Andrew’s Ward.
Ms Anderson shared her husband’s experience of mental health services in Somerset when the full council met in Bridgwater this week.
She said: “My husband is a Falklands War veteran, he has PTSD. He is self-employed – when the pandemic hit, he got nothing. To receive specialist support, he was sent to Dorset – it was like a prison sentence.
“The care we need for our men, women and children is imperative. Mendip is a huge area, and we need St Andrew’s – there is nothing wrong with that building.”
Fellow campaigner Emma King said: “Closing the Wells unit benefits the ICB but it leaves a gaping hole for residents in Mendip. We know that care in the community does not work.”
Eva Bryczkowski described the planned closure as “woeful” and said the lack of public transport between Wells and Yeovil made the change unviable.
She said: “You are preventing relatives who don’t own cars from visiting their loved ones, i.e. those who have been forcibly removed from St Andrew’s Ward in Wells all the way to Yeovil. People with mental health issues already tend to feel isolated.
“They will feel it a lot more if they are an hour away from loved ones who have no car. You councillors have to fight vigorously to reverse the decision that the ICB have made.
“Otherwise, there will be blood on the hands of the ICB’s member – and frankly, there will be blood on your hands too.”
Cllr Heather Shearer, portfolio holder for adult social care, said the decision was out of the council’s hands but added it was important patients’ wishes were addressed on a case-by-case basis.
She said: “The voices of the people who use the services we provide need to be heard.
“The acute adult mental beds are a small but important part of the new care model, which focuses on supporting people as close to home as possible.
“The proposed relocation was reviewed and assured by NHS England; the clinical review panel was unanimous in its view.
“The decision was made on the distance of the Wells ward from an emergency department and the lack of 24-hour support, and not cost. Transport issues will be explored on an individual patient level.”
Ms Shearer indicated that the beds were expected to be relocated to Yeovil by the autumn of 2023.