Anger as local patients shifted out of London

Published: 7 October, 2010
by TOM FOOT

VULNERABLE mental health patients are being moved hundreds of miles away from their homes against their family’s wishes due to a lack of hospital beds and clinical expertise in Camden.

A bipolar patient suffering from manic depression told how he was transferred 200 miles from the Grove Centre in Hampstead to Bradford while one of Camden’s foremost social activists was last night (Wednesday) facing a transfer from the same hospital to a privately run psychiatric unit in Northampton.

Family, friends and political allies of the 72-year-old Somers Town campaigner were last night locked in desperate negotiations to keep him near his family in Camden. He has devoted his life to fighting for progressive causes in Camden – but now health bosses say his worsening dementia means they can no longer care for him near his family.

The Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust gave his family 48 hours’ notice of their decision on Tuesday. He is expected to be moved from the Grove Centre to St Andrew’s Hospital today (Thursday).

His brother said: “I’m sure his recovery would be better in Camden, or at least in London. They say this is the only place in England that can cope with his condition – it is called Lewy Body dementia.”

Labour politicians Frank Dobson MP and Somers Town councillor Roger Robinson have written in support of the family and a formal complaint was lodged with C&I chief executive Wendy Wallace and chairman Richard Arthur.

Mr Arthur has declined to comment but a Trust spokesman said the decision would have been taken in the best interests of the patient.

It follows an an­nouncement last week that the Grove Centre, in the grounds of the Royal Free Hospital, and one of either St Pancras or Queen Mary House ­hospitals, will be shut within three years.

C&I clinical director Sylvia Tang said the closure plan was “mainly because we have a sustained bed vacancy across four sites”.

Finance director Colin Plant insisted the decision had nothing whatsoever to do with a £20million reduction in funding.

But insiders said there was a chronic shortage of beds in the borough and labelled claims that Camden could not provide specialist dementia treatment “preposterous”.

“The wards are stretched to capacity and consultants are turning people away – it is reckless to close all these beds,” said the source.

Bipolar patient Ross Sullivan told the New Journal he was sent to Bradford for two weeks because there were no beds free in Camden.

The 37-year-old, a former bus driver who lives in Camden Town, said: “When I was ill in June there was a lack of beds then. 

“I was put in the back of a van and sent up to Bradford. I was shocked to be sent up there. All my family are in London. I’d say they were telling porkies about the empty beds.”

A C&I Trust spoke­sman said: “We guarantee that all our service users who need an inpatient bed will be provided with one, and we make this as close to their home as we can. This may involve the use of specialist services, which may not be available within the Trust, in which case the referral can be outside our borders.”

A consultation on the closure proposals has begun and the public can make their views known by visiting www.candi.nhs.uk

• This week is World Mental Health Week with  a series of events taking place across Camden and Islington. For more information visit www.camden.gov.uk and www.islington.gov.uk