Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS is intending to build a new hospital in York to provide mental health support in the Vale of York. Unfortunately they are taking a very narrow view of what to build (only considering the bits of mental health that they are currently funded to support) and of the consultation (just on the location of the hospital).
This is my response to the consultation on the new mental health
hospital for the Vale of York.
Number of beds
The proposal is a marked reduction in the number of beds for the region
at a time when we know that there is a great need for mental health beds with
significant numbers of people being shipped around the country due to the lack
of availability of local beds. Having
only 60 beds to cover the Vale of York will create severe problems at a time of
rising mental health problems and a lack of services to meet the existing
need. Whilst I do not have the expertise
to say how many beds are required it is clear that the cuts over the last few
years have put a strain on services and even more to the point a severe strain
on people with mental health issues.
Using the formula has clearly not
helped as the situation has been deteriorating for many years.
Hospital
location
Building a single hospital to cover the whole or the Vale of York is not
appropriate as many patients, and their families, will have to travel a long
way. This will mean that it is harder
for families to visit patients in terms of both time and cost so that they will
be able to make fewer visits. Yet, we
know that contact with family is vital to improvements in mental health. Therefore there should be more than one
hospital to cover the area. Perhaps one
in York and one in Selby. The location
of the one in York might be affected by the location of the second (or second
and third) hospitals.
However, if there is to be only one hospital then Bootham Park is the only sensible location. It has far and away the best public transport
access (and drivers can use any of the park and ride points). It is close to York Hospital which is
important for many patients who have physical as well as mental health issues. And both the other locations are pretty sterile. There is nowhere to go with patients for a
short trip outside the hospital (this appears to be seen as advantage in that the
consultation document refers to the low likelihood of other development in the vicinity). Again, it is important for people’s recovery
that they can re-integrate with general society with such things as visits to shops,
cafes, cinema, museums etc. None of
these are possible at either of the other sites. With both the Haxby and Clifton sites it
would be necessary to take a bus into town and back again meaning that any
excursion would be at least a couple of hours by the time one had got to the
bus stop, got a bus, got into town, done something and retraced ones steps.
Service
provision
Whilst this does not seem to be part of the consultation I think that
there is a problem with the way that the consultation is being undertaken. We are being asked merely to consider the
number of beds to be provided, but in fact that can only be done as part of a
proper service review, working out what services should be provided (for
instance it might be better to include provision for mother and baby or mother
and child units and alcohol treatment units within the provision). By saying that it is only looking at services
provided by Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust a huge opportunity is being
missed. The opportunity to provide an
integrated service including social service provision etc. The hospital cannot, and should not, be treated
in isolation. To take a single example,
at the consultation we were told that no provision would be made for alcohol treatment
as that is now funded through public health provision. However, it may well be sensible for an ATU
to be collocated in the new hospital, whether funded TEWV or public
health. It is this very failure of
integrated thinking and integrated support that is causing many people real and
very severe problems.
Another way of putting this, is that the hospital is being designed to
match the current funding formula rather than needs of patients and the community. If you really want to meet the needs of
patients and the community then the hospital should address mental health
needs, not the funding formula, and this will mean working closely with others
with responsibility for parts of adult mental health need and creating a hospital
focused on patient needs whatever the funding source.
Summary
·
We do not have enough information to know how
many beds are needed
·
There should be more than one hospital to cover
the area
·
The best site in York is Bootham Park
Hospital
·
There is a need to take an integrated
approach and not develop the hospital to match the way services are currently
funded.
Tom
Tom Franklin
York Green Party
15 Priory Street
York
YO1 6ET
Email: office@yorkgreenparty.org.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment