Shake-up in mental health services in Darlington

Officials from the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust have drawn up plans to reduce the number of inpatient mental health beds in the area.

Four out of the five options outlined by trust officials involve the loss of beds at Sedgefield Community Hospital.

The plans are partly in response to patients and their families telling staff that they prefer inpatient wards where people with "functional"mental illness, such as depression, psychosis and anxiety, and those with "organic" illnesses, such as dementia, are nursed separately. At the moment, the inpatient beds are spread across three sites - Auckland Park Hospital, in Bishop Auckland, West Park Hospital, in Darlington, and Sedgefield Community Hospital.

The proposal most favoured by clinical staff is to create a specialist functional inpatient centre in Darlington for all south Durham and Darlington patients, with separate female and male wings.

This option would involve maintaining a specialist organic assessment and treatment ward at Auckland Park for all south Durham and Darlington patients, relocating Hardwyke Ward from Sedgefield Community Hospital to vacant ward space at Auckland Park Hospital.

The trust argues that the environment and accommodation at both sites is more suited to the different categories of patients.

However, the trust acknowledges that such amove would force about ten patients a month from Sedgefield andWear Valley to be admitted at the Darlington hospital rather than Auckland Park, and about six patients a month from Darlington would need to be admitted to Auckland Park.

A period of public consultation is expected to be announced shortly.