Financial cuts to mental health services – UPDATE

Carers in Hertfordshire consulted carers about their views of the proposals by the NHS Primary Care Trusts to cut funding to mental health services as part of their debt recovery plan.

The views received from carers demonstrated a unanimous opposition to the proposed cuts. We submitted these views to the Hertfordshire NHS Primary Care Trusts who, along with the Joint Commissioning Partnership Board decided:

	To save Seward Lodge Day Care Unit in East Herts from closure
	To look again at the proposals to cut support groups for users
	To implement all other proposed cuts

Subsequently, we represented carers’ views to Hertfordshire County Council overview and scrutiny committee. As members of an alliance of local charities whose members were opposed to the proposals, we submitted a postcard petition with more than 4000 signatures.

The overview and scrutiny committee accepted the concerns of users and carers about the proposed cuts and referred the matter for final decision to the Secretary of State for Health, Patricia Hewitt.

Simon des Forges from Viewpoint and Sue Reeve from Carers in Hertfordshire represented users’ and carers’ views to the Minister for Health, Rosie Winterton, at the Department of Health –a meeting kindly arranged by Broxbourne MP Charles Walker. At that meeting, we invited the Minister to visit Hertfordshire to  meet service users and carers, an invitation which was later accepted. Regrettably, we have since learned that owing to parliamentary business, the Minister has had to cancel her visit to Hertfordshire. However Carers in Hertfordshire will forward the questions and comments that carers intended to raise, to the Department of Health, with a request for a ministerial response. 

The decisions of the Secretary of State

The Secretary of State for Health, Patricia Hewitt, endorsed the local decision to save Seward Lodge day care unit, because of the impact on carers; required improvements to Early Intervention services in Hertfordshire, and gave agreement to Hertfordshire NHS Primary Care Trusts that the remainder of their proposals to cut mental health services could be implemented.  

A copy of the report from the Carers' Consultation Meeting held in April 2006 can be read here.

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