Revealed: the mental health beds being secretly closed

Published: 2 December, 2010
by TOM FOOT

HEALTH bosses have been secretly closing dozens of mental health beds while publicly claiming they are empty and no longer needed, the New Journal can reveal.

Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act cast serious doubt over Camden and Islington Foundation Trust’s claim that a dramatic rise in the numbers of “vacant beds” justifies the closure of two mental hospitals in Camden.

At Camden Town Hall on Thursday, finance director Colin Plant and medical director Sylvia Tang presented official documents to councillors including a graph showing how numbers of vacant beds had risen from 15 to more than 70 in the past four months.

Mr Plant said “I can assure you that those beds are really empty,” adding that the sudden rise was a result of the success of community services.

But the actual number of empty beds in Camden and Islington is just 25, while 46 have been “temporarily closed” by the Trust in the same period.

The FOI reveals that in May the Trust shut 16, then 14 more in July, and then another 16 in September – a clear explanation for the rise in empty beds.

Mr Plant was invited to “join the Magic Circle” by NHS campaigner Scott Stevens, who added: “The figures, they don’t tally. They say they have 70 beds empty. Even if that is right, why do they want to close 130?”

Between 100 and 130 beds will close in Camden if Trust plans to close two hospitals are ap­proved early next years. Under the plans, the Grove Centre will be shut, along with one of Queen Mary House in Hampstead or St Pancras Hospital. 

Trust chairman Rich­ard Arthur said a decision on St Luke’s Woodside Hospital in Muswell Hill would “hopefully come in the next calendar year”.

The hospital has been closed to patients for 18 months and is “increasingly dilapidated”, ac­cording to Councillor Penny Abraham.

In January 2010, chief executive Wendy Wallace said she would announce a decision “within six months”. 

Mr Plant blamed the general election for the delay.