The former provost who helped open an Angus mental health unit at the centre of an axe storm believes the move has “shamed” NHS Tayside.
Ruth Leslie Melville congratulated late health board chairman Sandy Watson at the official opening of the purpose-built Susan Carnegie Centre of Stracathro Hospital in 2012.
But one of the £20 million centre’s purposes – to house acute adult inpatients in the Mulberry Unit after the “Victorian” Sunnyside closed – may end after the health board reported its preference is to house all Tayside’s inpatients at the Carseview Centre of Ninewells Hospital.
“I was there at the start as provost and remember the fanfare when it was opened,” Mrs Leslie Melville said.
“It felt like yesterday – it almost was.
“The paint has hardly dried on this building.
“When everything moved from Sunnyside to Stracathro it was a brilliant feeling.
“Sunnyside was a Victorian building and was past its time.
“People came to a bright, happy place that made them feel better.
“Use of drugs went down, people left earlier.
“It was designed to have the journey as an inpatient as lacking in trauma as possible.
“I think it’s totally ludicrous to shove them into that overcrowded site.
“Shame on them.”
The psychiatric unit was temporarily closed in February because of a shortage of junior doctors, and NHS Tayside had already begun reviewing its mental health services after deciding it was no longer sustainable or safe to run General Adult Psychiatry (GAP) inpatient services at the Mulberry Unit, Carseview, and Murray Royal Hospital in Perth.
The final decision on whether to approve public consultation on the health board’s plans will fall to Perth Integrated Joint Board, made up of NHS and council figures, on June 30.
NHS Tayside’s medical director, Professor Andrew Russell, said: “It has long been recognised that providing GAP services across three sites is not a sustainable model of care for our patients…
“We would encourage members of the public to take part in the consultation and share their views on the proposed future models of care for mental health and learning disabilities services in Tayside.”
Information about the consultation will be available at www.taysidementalhealthredesign.scot.nhs.uk after July 3.
Mrs Leslie Melville, a former chairman of Tayside Health Council, was among the councillors who fought to keep Stracathro Hospital open in 1999.
She became provost when Independent, Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Labour councillors united to form the Angus Alliance.
She has called on elected members on the Angus Integrated Joint Board – who have yet to be selected following the local government election – to “dig their heels in” to retain Mulberry.
“We were getting such fantastic results in that unit,” she added.
“Why is Angus always the one to lose out?”
The preferred option is currently being presented to NHS Tayside committees, Tayside NHS Board, and Dundee and Angus Integration Joint Boards before going to Perth & Kinross Integration Joint Board on June 30 for final approval to move forward with a public consultation.
Following approval, the consultation period will begin on Monday July 3 and will run until Tuesday October 3 2017.
During the consultation, the programme team will be gathering views and feedback on the preferred option from service users, carers, staff, members of the public and other interested stakeholders.
All stakeholder views will be included in a final report with recommendations for the new service model, which will be presented back to the NHS Tayside and Integration Joint Boards before Perth & Kinross Integration Joint Board makes a final decision.
