Pressure mounts over ward closure
A LEADING campaigner is piling pressure on Harrogate's health trust to name when the Hawthorn Day Hospital at the district hospital's Briary Wing will reopen.
The town's MP Andrew Jones has called on the NHS North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT) to name a date when the beleaguered unit will reopen to vulnerable patients.
The unit - which provided day support for people with mental health problems - was closed "temporarily" early this month.
In July the MP met with angry patients and their families who spoke of how their lives would be desperately affected by the decision to halt the service. Many fear the temporary closure is just the forerunner to a permanent axing.
Now Mr Jones has written to Janet Probert, who runs North Yorkshire and York Community and Mental Health Services, which is hosted by the PCT, asking for a commitment that Hawthorn will reopen and for a date when this will happen.
He said: "I am still receiving email after email from the unit's former users and their families telling how they are struggling to cope now that it is closed. Some of the stories are heart-breaking.
"I am not going to allow this issue to be brushed under the carpet."
Patients first heard about the closure unofficially at the beginning of July and were no longer able to access the service just over three weeks later - a move they say was carried out with no consultation.
The PCT said it was forced to temporarily close the unit due to staffing problems, as well as a need to cut costs.
It said management costs had already been cut by 17 per cent but overall savings of eight per cent still needed to be made, with vacancies not being filled except where absolutely neccessary.
A spokesman said the decision will be reviewed in October.
For on this story, see the Harrogate Advertiser.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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