Our readers tackle the issues of the day

At a recent meeting in Bradford, a presentation was given by Matt Neligan, of the PCT and Simon Jones, manager for BDCT, alongside a consultant from an acute admission ward from Lynfield Mount.

The consultation process was supposed to be a way of discussing the proposed changes, yet, as the meeting wore on, it became more and more apparent that the decision to close Moor Lane had already been made, and that the new services available to service users would be based not on need, not on choice, but on cost.

When the Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, announced a £70 million boost to mental health therapies; including psychological therapies to 20 new areas with an increase in services to cover the whole country over the next few years, it was estimated that by 2010-11 the NHS would spend £170 million per year on psychological therapies, including £30 million in 2008-09 and £100 million in 2009-10. This should have heralded the dawn of a new era for mental health services and their users, but once again service users and their families have been let down.

The Moor Lane unit specialises in continuing care and was the recipient of a special spotlight team award in 2005. Individual staff have been recognised through the carers champion award 2006.

The strategic review talks of a range of services to suit all, yet this cannot be achieved whilst based on the site of a large psychiatric unit such as Lynfield Mount, Bradford.

According to Mr Neligan, levels of need are expected to rise by 6 per cent, yet, instead of expanding on service provision, the PCT looks to reduce this and the choices available to service users.

The consultation process talks of a ‘shift in resources to a more community-based service,’ yet proposes to move all the available services to one inaccessible site at Lynfield Mount. The move from institutionalised care was to have been the first stages in the ‘care in the community’ process, but this new proposal seems like a retrograde step which can only increase the revolving door syndrome.

The proposed changes do not appear to have the imagination or innovation to utilise more than one site, thus concluding that it is cheaper to house all rehabilitation and respite services in one large unit.

This in itself is fraught with problems, the stigma so easily attached to large psychiatric units will increase and service users will be lost, some refusing to take up the offer of help, thus enabling the bed figures to remain so low.

Mr Jones’s proposal “to make services safer and more effective and make the best use of funding” appears to offer the solution that the cheapest and easiest option is best, regardless of the views and opinions of service users.

Both Mr Neligan and Mr Jones emphasised that the strategic review had been carried out utilising interviews of service users, carers and voluntary organisations, yet it appeared at this meeting that none of these were in favour of Moor Lane closing. One service user suggested a smaller facility of nine beds at Moor Lane and nine at Daisy Bank, thus ensuring a greater service and more choice, a proposal which met with a negative response.

One attendee, who works within the Trust, questioned the lack of facilities for other mental health problems such as eating disorders, and why this could not be incorporated into a unit such as Moor Lane. Again, the issue of cost was mentioned as a reason for this not being a feasible idea.

When questioned about innovation and imagination and fostering the excellent work already rewarded at Moor Lane, by turning it into a centre of excellence, the issue of cost was again put forward as a reason not to do this.

When asked about combining the unit with research facilities and putting the skills and work out to tender as a possible way of bringing money into the trust, the idea was dismissed out of hand.

Residents at Oakvale (an independent living unit in Keighley) who use Moor Lane as a respite facility would be faced with the dilemma of having to move from their home to a ward next to an acute ward, hardly the recipe for a successful period of respite.

Mr Jones spoke of the need to ‘develop specialist services for people most in need’ yet could offer no rationale for disbanding an award-winning highly skilled team.

The whole consultation appears to be a paper exercise with a lack of publicity, manipulation of bed figures leading to a clear reduction in services to those who want more choice. The people who matter in this process seem to be getting yet another raw deal, lack of choice, reduction in services and an increase in the stigma associated with mental illness.

The value of a few days guesting or a week’s respite should not be counted in terms of monetary costs to the NHS, but should be counted in terms of improvement in quality of life to schizophrenic sufferers, service users and their families.

The stigma attached to mental health needs to be tackled by the whole of our society, and the quality of care needs to be paramount in this, not the cost of care, closing specialist units only serves to undermine the value we place on an individual’s life.

However, this does not begin to tackle the problems that mental health staff and patients face on a daily basis, more and more health chiefs are only concerned with cost cutting measures, as evidenced by the imminent closure of one specialist rehabilitation unit.

Name and address supplied

Hoping for a miracle

As we approach the season of goodwill to all men and, I assume, it includes women, too, perhaps we could look forward to another Christmas miracle. Before me is a letter dated March 3, 2003, in reply to one of January 17, 2001, from our previous parish clerk and administrative officer to the Diocese of Leeds. Subject: The Roman Alter to Verbeia and its replica. Those who remember articles in the Ilkley Gazette around 2000 will know the way these historical artefacts were treated. Front page photographs showed them dumped beside a concrete mixer and heap of sand. The Diocese, in the meantime, tried to convince us they were in safe hands, much like the 400-year-old waymarker they moved to prevent it being damaged – but which was.

I find it hilarious the combined might of Ilkley Parish Council, Bradford Metropolitan District Council, Ilkley Civic Society, The Milestone Society and numerous national groups could not get the waymarker returned. Yet, within two months of a letter from IMOR, the stone was returned to its hole. I digress.

The Diocese suggest the original altar be put in the Manor House Museum on extended loan, while the replica be interned somewhere at Middleton Grange. Five years down the road and Ilkley residents are still waiting. Rumour has it the stones are no longer in Wharfedale. In fact, it has been suggested something similar to one has been carved anew. Now it would seem only a miracle of great proportion will return Ilkley’s historical artefacts to their rightful place. All together now, one, two, three - “Let us pray, let us pray, let us praaay!”

Frazer Irwin

Queens Road, Ilkley

Supermarket traffic

The railway divides Ilkley in two. At the moment we have two supermarkets – one either side of the railway– meaning that one or other of the supermarkets can be easily reached on foot, by wheelchair or with a pram. Imagine the extra traffic created by Tesco’s proposed move to the north side of the railway. The increased traffic going through the centre of Ilkley should be a valid point for objection.

Joy Godfrey

Tivoli Place, Ilkley

Public consultation will be held

What’s so scary about equal votes for Ilkley people?

This summer, I’ve listened to over 1,000 Ilkley people tell me – in their own homes – that they want equal votes. They’re mostly surprised that some people have four votes and others three. They’re intrigued to learn that two parish wards had become one and three-quarters larger than the others. They expect everyone to have equal votes. And they want near equal-sized wards.

So why would anyone want to frustrate them?

When the scheme for unequal votes was concocted in 2005, why was our parish council kept in the dark? Why wasn’t it put on its agenda or, at least, parish councillors given proper notice? Was that to ensure the scheme wouldn’t be leaked?

Our parish council and other interested bodies were supposed to be consulted about changes to election arrangements. But they weren’t. Why on earth not?

Despite the scare stories your correspondents invent, there will be a public consultation next year about allowing the equal votes that Ilkley people expect. As required by law.

Andrew Dundas

Parish Ghyll Drive, Ilkley

Search for meningitis vaccine

I was deeply saddened to read your article on November 20 about the sudden death of a four-year-old boy to meningitis. I lost my son, Spencer, to meningitis and meningococcal septicaemia some time ago and can well imagine the pain that all those who knew him are suffering.

On behalf of the national charity Meningitis UK, which represents thousands of families who have experienced the devastation caused by meningitis, I would like to pass on our heartfelt sympathies to his family and friends.

Sadly, meningitis can often be incredibly difficult to detect as the symptoms are often hard to distinguish from more minor ailments such as the common cold or flu, plus there are occasions when people show no or very few symptoms. For these reasons we believe the only way to truly eradicate the disease is through the development of a preventative vaccine, which is our sole focus at Meningitis UK.

Last year we launched our Search 4 a Vaccine Campaign which signals the start of a major phase in the search for a vaccine for meningococcal group B, which accounts for almost 90 per cent of all cases in the UK and for which there is currently no vaccine.

Our scientists believe that with enough support, a vaccine can be found within the next seven years, possibly even sooner. The aim of the campaign is to raise £7 million to fund the research needed to reach this goal.

In the absence of a vaccine to protect against all strains, we also distribute a wide range of material to raise awareness of the common symptoms and need to act quickly, which can mean the difference between life and death.

If we can offer any support to the boy's family or information to any of your readers, or if they would like to support our search for a vaccine, they can call Meningitis UK on 0117 373 7373 or visit menigitis.UK.org.

Steve Dayman

Chief Executive, Meningitis UK

A note of caution

Several aid charities are once again making their, by now traditional, Christmas pitch for donations to buy farmed animals for some of the world's poorest communities. At first sight, it’s an uplifting idea but the reality is that such animal gifts add to rather than diminish poverty.

That’s because animal farming is a wasteful way of deploying limited agricultural resources (labour, land, energy and water). You can feed many more people by directing those resources to growing foods for people to eat directly rather than first passing nutrients through animals. In areas where people are destitute and where there is no surplus wealth, it is more essential than ever to use such resources to best effect. Animal farming is also more environmentally destructive, as well as being a major source of climate changing gases – generating more such emissions than the whole of the global transport sector.

Inevitably, Animal Aid is keenly concerned about the welfare of the animals themselves. Where impoverished people cannot afford to feed and care for their animals, those animals endure extreme suffering and die – an outcome that does nothing to relieve the poverty of their owners. Please contact Animal Aid or go to animalaid.co.ukfor a list of organisations that help animals, people and the environment.

Andrew Tyler

Director, Animal Aid, The Old Chapel, Bradford Street, Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1AW

Free library for blind children

I’ve just recorded the sound for a new feely picture version of a Mog the Cat story for blind children to borrow from Living Paintings’ free library of popular books. Mog is very forgetful and gets into lots of scrapes!

Blind youngsters look forward to new books at Christmas just as much as their sighted pals. So letting them know that this free picture book library is there for them is vital. Living Paintings is an award-winning charity that has Braille and text copies of all the children’s favourites from Winnie the Pooh to the Gruffalo – and there are educational packs as well. Best of all, everything is designed to be shared with sighted friends and family!

Every year they add new special touch and sound versions of favourite titles to the library. I’d really like to do another one so I hope they raise lots of money this Christmas to pay for more books.

If you know anyone who’d like to join the free library, or help it grow, just call 01635 299771, or you can join on the website livingpaintings.org.

Su Pollard

Living Paintings, Unit 8, Kingsclere Park, Newbury, Berkshire RG20 4SW