Lancashire mental health care under scrutiny
By Rebecca Coxon
The employment of 140 nurses in Lancashire could be under threat after new proposals from the Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust who plan to reduce inpatient facilities.
The renovation of mental health provision is designed to save around £12 million but unions and staff believe that approximately 140 workers could be affected. While it is reported that those concerned could be at risk of redundancy, it is not yet known where or precisely when the cuts would be made.
The trust refused to confirm any figure or comment on who was at risk, only that it would be revealed after a 90-day consultation process.
Value for money review
The shake-up comes as health chiefs scrapped plans to build a new £35million mental health hospital in Hapton near Burnley in Lancashire earlier this year.
It has been assured that the investment would instead be used to refurbish two units at the Royal Blackburn Hospital after the Trust conducted a ‘value for money’ review.
The new Blackburn site plans to house 72 patients once the work has been completed, but Burnley’s psychiatric wards would close permanently as a result.
In a letter to employees, Heather Tierney-Moore, Lancashire Care’s chief executive, recognised that this would be, ‘The start of a long journey for the trust, which will realise a long-standing goal to enhance the quality of care by improving inpatient accommodation, which is no longer suitable.”
However, Tim Ellis, UNISON’s organiser for health in East Lancashire, said the union wanted assurances staff would not lose their jobs:
“We are asking for clarification that these 140 jobs will not be lost and that there will be sufficient community provision to house these excellent, skilled staff and meet the needs of mental health patients.”
Training scheme remains regardless of cuts
However yet more controversy has been stirred with the news that Lancashire Care is spending more than £830,000 on an ‘appreciative leadership course’ for managers.
A Freedom of Information Act request has shown that the massive sum has been used to train consultants, but the Trust claim that it is an ‘important part of the trust’s capability and capacity to continue to improve services.’
Unison’s Tim Ellis maintained that there were “major concerns” about the level of spending:
“The NHS is being forced by the coalition Government to sustain the highest level of cuts since its foundation. This will inevitably, and detrimentally, affect local health care provision.
"The public need local health provision, not huge-scale cuts, and not money frittered away on consultants.”
A spokesman from Lancashire Care responded to the debate upholding that the trust has invested the “appreciative leadership programme” to provide “over 600 front-line leaders, from all professions, with skills to help improve quality and provide efficient services.”
He added, "It is equally important that during this time of financial pressure, we continue to invest in our staff to maintain quality, and skill staff up for the future.
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