NHS trust 'banking on people being too ill to object to changes' to Sheffield mental health services

Sheffield Health & Social Care NHS Foundation Trust, the body responsible for mental health in the city, has closed down centres and centralised services to two hubs in the north and south east of the city.

Bosses claim the move improves 'quality of care' and 'accessibility and availability' of services.

But service users living in the south west of Sheffield are faced with a 16-mile round trip to Birley after Argyll House in Nether Edge was closed down.

The service user, who wished to remain anonymous due to fear of retribution, said patients were 'publicly promised' they could be treated in the city centre or the Michael Carlisle Centre in Nether Edge.

They said: "Everyone who has been misled, is highly disappointed and angry. It is particularly impossible in bad weather to travel that far and involves taking two buses whilst ill.

"We accepted the planned move of Argyll House to the city centre on the grounds of democracy, only to find our trust abused."

The Star revealed the Trust was hoping to plug a £1.6 million black hole by selling off buildings back in September 2017.

This includes selling off their headquarters in Fulwood with a potential move to Ecclesall Road or the Wicker.

The service user also criticised the consultation on the changes to services.

"The recent poorly promoted public meetings with adult service mental health users are a sham as there is no point in listening if you then take no action," they added.

"NHS Sheffield's reaction is to make soothing noises and plough on nevertheless - at human cost. This is not about central Government cut backs - it's about local delivery and negligence.

"They could have pressed forward with delivering services from the centre of Sheffield but they banked on the vulnerable not objecting or being well enough to object."

Clive Clarke, deputy chief executive, said: “We are committed to improving the mental, physical and social wellbeing of the people in our communities. We have recently made changes to adult community mental health services and we believe that these changes will improve both the accessibility and availability of services as well as improving the overall quality of care and support that our service users receive

“We know that change is challenging for service users, carers and staff and we appreciate that anxieties are particularly high at present as the changes take full effect.

“We have recently moved from a model of four staff bases to two staff bases for our Mental Health Recovery Service and Home Treatment Service. This does not mean, however, that all service users are required to travel further or attend a different site for their appointments. For many service users, appointments continue to take place at their home or in their local community.

“It is our aim to provide care as close to service users’ homes as possible. We are currently looking at a number of different options to facilitate this, particularly in the south west of the city and will keep affected service users and carers informed of our progress on this issue."