Plans to relocate Wells mental health beds slammed

Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group approved in August 2020 the closure of St Andrew’s ward at the Priory Health Park in Wells, relocating 14 mental health beds to Yeovil.

The move was postponed by the pandemic.

Campaigners want Somerset County Council and Somerset Integrated Care Board (ICB) to reverse the closure, as it would involved patients' families having to travel up to 30 miles to visit.

The council says the relocation would allow better access to emergency services.

At a full council meeting, Emma King said: "The impact of the pandemic and the current cost of living crisis is only increasing the levels of economic deprivation, and therefore people’s mental health is declining.

“Even though the ICB is planning on ‘moving away from bed based interventions’, it is clear that the closure of this ward is ill-thought out.

“It will deprive people in crisis from accessing a service near to their homes, possibly resulting in them being sent not only potentially to Yeovil, but possibly hundreds of miles away to places where they will be unable to be visited by friends or family, support which is essential to making a swift recovery.

“Closing the Wells unit benefits the ICB, but it leaves a gaping hole for residents in Mendip."

Eva Bryczkowski 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 Andrews 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."

Bev Anderson 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 Andrews – there is nothing wrong with that building."

Cllr Heather Shearer, portfolio holder for adult social care, said the decision was out of the council’s hands.

She added: “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."