Lancaster Guardian Once More...

Beds in the Orchard went back into the Lancaster Guardian for the second time today.

If you're a regular follower of this blog, you may remember our first mention in the Lancaster Guardian where we were told that the closure to women was because of those long dark winter nights.

Things have moved on a lot since then, but we kept in contact with the Guardian and they decided to talk more about our campaign in today's edition.  We made it onto the front page, no less, and the full article is here - Won't take bed battle lying down.

We'd like to thank both Rebecca Wilkinson and Philippa Molloy for speaking out so clearly about what this campaign means to us and why we are fighting on. 

A lot of the article focuses on how we believe that the Trust did not adhere to the Equality Act when making the decision.  This is something that our MP David Morris is taking up for us.  The Trust believe they have adhered to the act, but the truth will be in the detail.

While you don't need to do a full Equality Impact Assessment or consultation for a temporary decision, we have been advised that you do still need to pay due regard to the Act and be able to provide the documentation showing how such due regard was taken.  Without such documentation indirect discrimination will have occurred.

As the Trust have been unable to show that such due regard has taken place, or provide the details of why they believe such due regard did not have to take place, our position remains the same.  Hopefully this is something that will be clarified one way or another through our MP.

Our spokesperson is still working with the Trust and has been in contact with them this week, although the feedback from her is that its "in progress" we expect that there will be further updates as time goes on.

Orchard Beds Vindicated by The Freedom of Information Requests

Today Beds in the Orchard received the responses to the FOI requests.

All along, we have said that the closure of the ward was for financial reasons, that it was due to impact of closing the 22 male beds in Burnley and that it was until The Harbour opened.  The Trust have denied this.

They have denied this on BBC Radio, in the Lancaster Guardian, to our service users in response to our letter of complaint and in the letters to the MPs.  Below are some of the things that have been said.

• "The intention isn't for this to run for weeks and weeks".
• "I would like to reassure you that the use of The Orchard as an all-male facility is very much a temporary measure."
• "This isn't for financial reasons."
• "This has nothing to do with the closure of the ward in Burnley."

To reiterate:-

This was a short term, temporary measure that wasn't for financial reasons and had nothing to do with the closure of 22 beds in Burnley.

The FOI information should have backed this up.  The Trust have been consistent in their reply and surely they would not give misleading information to the media, their service users or the MPs would they?

Perhaps we're misunderstanding what we've been sent, but here is some of the information provided to us from our FOI requests.

From 9/9/14 Sustainability Minutes - Suggestion made to open male ward on Darwen as no extra staff will be required. Discussed use of the Orchard as a ‘flexible friend’ to support longer term pressures of gender demand and we could scale down females to make all male to support this transition.

Longer term pressures of gender demand.  Please note: Longer term pressures.  Not short term pressures. Making the ward all male for longer term pressures.


Many thanks for your input and pragmatism yesterday in the meeting around managing the correct number of male vs female bed reductions, in line with our need to close a ward in total this financial year.

Our need to close a ward in this financial year.  Please note: Close in financial year, for financial reasons.


We all agreed we couldn’t manage with the loss of 22 male beds though so we agreed mitigation plans (some dates for the mitigation actions below TBC):

We couldn't manage with the loss of 22 male beds.  Please note: The closure of the 22 male beds in Burnley was acknowledged as unmanageable and therefore would have a known impact on the rest of the inpatient provision provided by the Trust.


TH suggested using The Orchard as a flexible ward if the network is under pressure for male or female beds for a period of time. The current female patients could be moved to Scarisbrick Unit. AW stated that as the Orchard is a standalone unit it would have to be clear which patients could be admitted as there is only 1 seclusion room. The ward would be flexible until the opening of the Harbour.

Flexible until the opening of the Harbour.  Please note: Until the opening of The Harbour.  The hospital due to open in March 15 if it runs to time. 

There are other details in the FOI information, mainly talking about where they were going to make up the shortfall of beds, and talk of the transitional period - which we believe to be the period before the beds being closed and The Harbour opening.


What is clear is that what we said all along was true.  That the women of North Lancashire were the victims of cost cutting measures and the closure of the Male ward in Burnley and that the Closure of the ward was until The Harbour opened.

Shame on you Lancashire Care NHS Trust.  Shame on you for treating your female service users like this.

Full response publicly available here.

A letter from the Trust, via a local MP

We'd like to take the time to thank David Morris MP, who a number of local service users contacted at the start of our campaign.  He took the time to look into the matter and reply to each of us outlining what he had done and the response he had from the Trust.  The letter from the trust that he forwarded is below.

Dear 

Thank you for your email.

As the Member of Parliament I am not directly responsible for the day to day running’s of individual health services, however I had asked the Lancashire Care Trust for a briefing on what was happening on the unit and why the decision to close the female beds have been made.

I have enclosed a copy of the letter below for your information, but I am pleased to say that this move is only a temporary arrangement to deal with a period where there are more male referrals than female ones and the female beds will be reinstated once the male referrals return to a normal level. The letter also states that at certain periods of the year female referrals rise over male figures and on these incidences the unit will be made fully female to deal with the demand for beds.

I trust the briefing attached addresses all of the questions you have about this change, however if you would like me to ask the Trust any more questions on your behalf, please contact me again and I will be more than happy to do so.

Yours Sincerely

David Morris MP

Morecambe and Lunesdale

House of Commons

London

SW1A 0AA

Dear David

As you are aware, Lancashire Care provide 18 beds for adults aged 18 and over with a mental health problem in The Orchard in Lancaster. Usually this caters for male and female service users but temporarily we are using The Orchard as a male only unit.

The reason for this is that there has been an increase in the number of male referrals and a decrease in the number of female referrals; there are currently empty female beds in Lancashire. This is a seasonal fluctuation and historically there is often an increase in male admissions at this time of year. Similarly, demand for female beds can often rise in the spring time. In order to respond to these fluctuations, the Trust’s inpatient services have been designed so that the ratio of male and female beds can be flexed to respond to meet demand accordingly.

A campaign group has been started called “Beds In The Orchard” which describes itself as “a campaign for the reinstatement of female psychiatric inpatient provision at The Orchard hospital in Lancaster”. The group are tweeting from the handle @OrchardBeds and, amongst other things, are encouraging people to contact their MP. The group have also contacted the local media and will feature on Radio Lancashire at 7am on 4 November; the Trust will also be fielding a representative for this.

I wanted to brief you that this arrangement will be for a short period of time and bed demand is under constant monitoring. This temporary measure has been in place for a month and during this time, approximately 6 females from the North Lancashire area have been admitted to a Trust facility in the wider Lancashire locality. Bed usage changes on a daily basis and as soon as the peak in male admissions has settled back to normal rates, The Orchard will revert back to being a mixed sex facility. In the same way that the service has temporarily been switched to accommodate the increase in male admissions at this time, The Orchard and the Trust’s other inpatient facilities have the flexibility to respond to an increase in female activity too. The Trust’s new facilities have been designed with this in mind and feature ‘swing beds’ so that the ratio of male/female beds can be altered in line with demand which is a dynamic situation.  

It is important to note that the Trust provides beds on a pan Lancashire basis. Whilst every effort is made to place people as close to their home as possible, the most local unit may not always be the most appropriate for a person and placement is also determined by clinical need as well as location. The Trust is committed to keeping people in the Lancashire locality and reducing the number of people being treated outside of this area.

Future inpatient services will be provided from four purpose built inpatient units including The Orchard in Lancaster and The Harbour in Blackpool.

Kind regards

Steve

Steve Winterson

Engagement Director

Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust