Simmons House Adolescent Unit

THE death of a teenager is being used as an excuse to axe mental health beds in line with a “political agenda of cost-cutting”, NHS workers have warned.

Simmons House Adolescent Unit, a £6million specialist service which provides a quarter of all adolescent inpatient admissions in north London, was shut down last December after a young inpatient took their own life, and an investigation into the safety of the unit launched.

But professionals say that closing a unit following a death is not “normal” practice, and fear a plan to permanently shutter the service is being driven by a desire to cut costs.

Sophie Newbery, a social worker at Simmons House, told the Tribune: “It’s difficult to advocate for a unit that has done such good and life-saving work when the cuts are being in the context of someone having passed away. But I think that’s very deliberate. I think it’s disgusting actually, but I think the death of a young person is being used as an excuse to cut beds which is part of a much wider political agenda”.

The “interim” plan, revealed in a North Central and East London Provider Collaborative (NCEL) briefing document sent to the heads of various NHS and health provider groups in north London, outlines how services provided by Simmons House will be replaced by a “home treatment” team system. According to the document, this is in line with a “clear vision” from NHS England that will see teenagers admitted to hospital only when “absolutely necessary”.

A joint letter from doctors, nurses, and therapists who worked at Simmons House says however that they “understand that the service is unlikely to reopen, and the building will not be used in the foreseeable future”.

They said in a period of “significant social, economic, and political pressure” hospital bed numbers should be increased, rather than reduced.

“We don’t think our way is the only way,” said Julia Britton, the co-Lead of Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy, “Simmons House was always changing and developing in response to need. We’re absolutely not against improved community services, for example the proposals to beef up the adolescent crisis teams. But our argument would be that places like Simmons House are needed. We feel that there is still a cohort of young people who do require very specialist inpatient care.”

Ms Newbery added that she worried axing beds would mean children’s social care services and paediatric wards would be “blindsided” by the pressure placed on them following the closure.

She said: “I would like for there to be more pressure for them [NCEL] to be more transparent about how much money will be saved with the new proposal, we do not believe that the proposal will cost the same as running Simmons House did, and I want to know where the rest of that money is going.”

Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn added that the current loss of the service “is a serious problem for people with profound mental health difficulties who have been helped immensely by Simmons House”.

“I’m seeking an urgent meeting with the trust, together with concerned residents from our last People’s Forum, insisting on a full public consultation on the building, which I hope will be re-opened as a fully funded mental health unit for our community,” he said.

A spokesperson for Whittington Health NHS Trust said: “We absolutely recognise the good work that staff at Simmons House did and how much it was appreciated by the young people who received care there, and their loved ones. However, following the serious incident in October it was right that we adopted a cautious approach and that included the temporary closure.

“It is not currently possible to reopen Simmons House which is why the North Central, East London Provider Collaborative are proposing interim arrangements for young people needing intensive mental health support in our area. Decisions around the future of the service previously provided at Simmons House will be considered as part of development of long-term plans for the future of these services which will take place whilst the proposed interim arrangements are in place.”

A spokesperson for NCEL, which commissions acute inpatient mental health services for children and young people on behalf of NHS England, added: “An estates review, undertaken by Whittington Health, identified that the unit needed a significant building upgrade to continue to function as a children and young people’s inpatient mental health unit. In the meantime NCEL Provider Collaborative have worked with clinical partners to set out interim proposals to ensure there is a service to meet the needs of children and young people locally, as laid out in the stakeholder engagement document. Concurrently Whittington Health are exploring options for the future of the building.

“We are engaging with stakeholders, service users and the public on interim arrangements which will be in place whilst we develop long-term proposals for these services and would encourage everyone to have their say at www.elft.nhs.uk/NCEL”

Corbyn calls for better support at MP’s second ‘People’s Forum’

Jeremy Corbyn at the second forum where people were invited to share their experiences

ISLINGTON North MP Jeremy Corbyn has called for better mental health resources and education in the borough as his second ‘People’s Forum’ invited residents to discuss stress and anxiety, and how they are managed, writes Isabel Loubser.

Attendees were this time invited to talk about “the political choices” that drive increasing loneliness, job-stress and anxiety, and what a mental health-positive society would look like.

“The whole point of these events is to share our experiences, and be empowered by the sharing of those experiences,” said Mr Corbyn in his closing remarks, adding that he was now asking for volunteers to help him take questions about funding, Simmons House and mental health first-aiders to a meeting with the NHS mental health trust at the Whittington.

Mr Corbyn said that next steps should include “assessing the need locally, and assessing the process of getting mental health support”.

“Some people feel intimidated, they don’t want to go to a GP, and don’t know what to do, so it’s a sense of understanding and having mental first-aiders,” he added.

The MP said he will know that his forums have worked by “people coming, people feeling more empowered, people feeling mobilised”.

He added that “feeling more empowered” meant people “demanding, being articulate, being active, and being accountable”.

Asked whether these forums had the power to really change anything, long-time NHS campaigner Shirley Franklin said: “That’s why I found tonight quite difficult, because the whole thing is enormous. Funding [from central government] underpins the whole thing, but I do think education matters, and kids need to be educated in schools to understand about their mental health and other people’s.”

She added: “That’s easy and it’s not a lot of money, the council can do that and have that as a policy. Jeremy can push for that and actually change education to make that work.”