04.01.11
Mental health centralisation plans under investigation
A cost-cutting decision to centralise mental health in-patient services in Berkshire is being investigated by councillors.
The provisional decision, which has to be ratified in July, would move all or the majority of in-patients who currently use Wexham Park in Slough, St Mark’s in Maidenhead and Heatherwood in Ascot over to a purpose-built facility at Prospect Park in Reading, around 15-20 miles away.
An option to build a new mental health unit in Slough has been written off as unaffordable by Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and NHS Berkshire East.
But Slough council has set up a working group of councillors and patient representatives to examine the decision and consultation process.
Councillor Julia Long, chair of the working group, said: “We really want to get to the bottom of whether they need to save money by centralising all in-patient mental health care and whether the consultation considered all the evidence given by local people.”
The group will report its findings to Slough’s health scrutiny panel in June, a month before the NHS makes its final decision.
Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which must save £12m over the next three years, wants to put aside £100,000 a year for travel costs for patients.
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