Health cuts referred to minister

5:17pm Thursday 18th May 2006

A PLAN to cut mental health services in Hertfordshire will be referred to the Secretary of State for Health, amid fears a reduction in services would have a negative "domino effect" .

A county council committee agreed on Wednesday they were not convinced that there was a case for the cuts and said Health Minister Patricia Hewitt should step in and reconsider the proposal.

The decision was made at a meeting of the county council's health scrutiny committee at County Hall, where 15 local organisations staged a demonstration to block the changes.

The cutbacks include the closure of St Julian's acute psychiatric ward at St Albans City Hospital, which serves people of south west Hertfordshire, reductions to day services, the closure of the Direct Access Psychology Service and the closure of the Early Intervention in Psychosis Service.

At least 3,500 people have signed a petition against the £5 million reduction in the Hertfordshire Partnership Trust's budget, aimed at reducing the £100 million deficit in health spending across Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.

Michael Downing, chairman of the Health Scrutiny Committee, said: "We believe five percent is an arbitrary figure and we don't see any reason why the people of Hertfordshire should be punished when mental health and learning disability services in Herts and elsewhere have always been grossly underfunded."

Sally Newton, executive member for Adult Care Services, said: "We feel it would be a retrograde step to makes cuts in mental health spending at a time when the number of people suffering mental health problems is increasing.

"We are really concerned about the domino effect these planned changes could have on our services.

"They are really big issues which need to be taken up at the highest possible level."

Five verbal presentations were made to the committee which also considered 11 written submissions.

Cliff Prior, chief executive of the mental illness charity Rethink, said: "These cuts are threatening the government's vision of improved mental health services and it must act today to save it reform programme.

"Mental Health services have a long history of chronic under-investment compared to other NHS areas and further cuts will have serious implications for those people directly affected by mental health problems service users and carers."