'Close monitoring' for mental health centre changes

North Devon bases closing

Torridge councillors say they will closely monitor what happens with the Bideford Link Centre building when the service for people suffering with  mental illness folds in June.

Devon County Council’s cabinet decided to close the centre in the town along with two others in Barnstaple and Ilfracombe last month, saving nearly half a million pounds, after it was told alternative provision is available.

The Devon Mental Health Alliance is expected to mostly fill the gap and has expressed interest in running different groups and activities from the Link centre buildings.

Cllr Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin (Lib Dem, Shebbear and Langtree) told Torridge District Council’s external overview and scrutiny committee that discussions with interested parties are starting this week, with site visits next month.

She said she has been given this update from Cllr James McInnes, the county council cabinet member for adult social care and health.

“If we can hold them to that it will be positive,” she said. “We will keep that on our radar as there are fears that it will be simply sold off.”

Torridge deputy leader and Devon county councillor Cllr Claire Hodson (Ind, Westward Ho!) said the idea is for the building to be used for community group activities on different days of the week but they would need to monitor it to make sure it happened.

The Link centres have been operating for 30 years, offering mental health support and therapies, activities and social interaction. They were managed by the Devon Partnership NHS Trust and many described them as a “lifeline” and some as ”lifesavers”.

The decision to close them was backed by the county’s health and adult social care scrutiny committee, which Cllr Hodson sits on.

She was one of five councillors who voted against it and believes the decision was “driven by money” despite being told that wasn’t the case.

The county council said it didn’t fund any other services like it in the county and it was designed to meet social care needs not complex mental health needs.

“The only compromise was the commitment to revisit it within 12 months to ensure that pledges that social care have made to find an additional support network actually work,” said Cllr Hodson.

“How with elections and devolution that will pan out I don’t know but it has to be reported back to the scrutiny committee. I am concerned they haven’t thought it through.”

She said there wasn’t enough staff in the alliance to cope. It has been reported that six people cover North Devon and Torridge and a six-month waiting list for help.

Cllr James Craigie (Ind, Bideford East) said at the same county council cabinet meeting the ‘recovery learning opportunities’ at The Burton Art Centre in Bideford were also shelved. These were also run by the Devon Partnership NHS Trust, in partnership with the county council.

The drop-in sessions, which took place across Devon, supported people with mental health and wellbeing but the trust said the organisation is “keen to align the delivery of these opportunities more closely to the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector and to move to a more financially sustainable and inclusive model”.

Cllr Craigie said unbeknown to councillors making the decisions, it was a double whammy for North Devon as this was one of the “alternative provisions” for users of the Link centre.