Women lose

Published: 13 January, 2011

• THE Camden & Islington Mental Health Trust is proposing to close up to a third of its in-patient beds on the grounds that it has too many empty beds.  

This is hard to believe particularly when it is linked to the trust’s claim to there being good community mental health services. If this is the case, then why is the future of the Highgate Day Centre once again in the balance?

Among its proposals, the trust is proposing to close its sole women-only ward at St Pancras Hospital, the Rosewood Unit. 

Many women with mental health problems need women-only facilities for a variety of reasons and such facilities are a cultural requirement for Muslim women.

The trust’s medical director, Sylvia Tang, claims that the bed closures are being driven by clinical need. How can clinical need drive the closure of a women-only facility?   

ESTELLE SUMMERS
Address supplied