GP referrals must be reinstated for link centres plea

Under threat mental health centres not able to help all the people in need

Mental health problems in Torridge are “an  infection seeping through our society,” it’s been claimed this week.

Torridge councillors want people to be able to be referred to North Devon ‘link centres’ that deal with such issues, as they used to be before the pandemic put the centres at risk.

The district council is stepping up the fight to save the centre in Bideford, alongside ones in Barnstaple and Ilfracombe which are in the North Devon council area, as they say nowhere else provides care for people with complex mental health needs.

Devon County Council has consulted on closing the link centres on two occasions in the last three years to save costs. It is due to publish more proposals in the next few weeks.

But despite numerous invitations for senior leaders of the council to attend a Torridge District Council scrutiny meeting to explain the reasons for the closure plans and alternative provisions, it has been turned down, leading local representatives to think the county has something to hide.

Now Torridge is hoping to bring its Conservative MP Sir Geoffrey Cox, the former attorney general, on board, and says it will go to the secretary of state for health if necessary as the county is “failing in its duty of care to its residents.”

It claims that closing the service in Bideford, which had been running successfully for 30 years but had not returned to a full service since covid, will lead to more hospitalisations, more cost to the health service and more people taking their own lives.

Cllr James Craigie (Ind, Bideford East) said at this week’s external overview and scrutiny committee that the county council needs to look again at the statistics. “Our benchmarking in 2022 shows that 239.2 per 100,000 of hospital admissions are due to  intentional self harm in Torridge, that is

60 more people than the national average. In North Devon, which is also covered by link centres, it is closer to 300.

“We also know that two more people die each year in Torridge from suicide than the national average and in Mid Devon it’s even higher. The county council knows this and has shown a level of disdain not only to the users, but to the community and to this committee for not being even willing to come and talk to us.

“They need to engage with the community and be realistic on figures and meet their statutory duties, whatever the financial burden is, as this is about people lives.

“Every suicide is not one person, it is a family, a huge amount of people who are traumatised, and that leads to other mental health problems. It is like an infection that is seeping through our entire society. If we do not deal with minor mental health it escalates.”

The councillor said more and more people are being referred to the children’s centre due to mental health problems.

“People cannot cope with the amount of stresses and there is no way the county is taking the level of the problem seriously enough. In my opinion the county is not fit to manage its statutory duty of care.”

The county council says it is facing “huge financial pressure” and reviewing all areas of work. Closing its link centre buildings in Bideford and Barnstaple is expected to save £306,000.

There is a national focus on integrating mental health services within local communities. The county council says many of those delivered by the link service to support people with mental wellbeing, such as craft clubs, coffee mornings and choir groups, or help with form filling and IT support, could be delivered by the voluntary sector.

In Holsworthy, mental health services are now run by volunteers from a different venue in the town after a link centre closed, but councillors say the professional staff are greatly missed.

Campaigner Sue Matthews, a nurse in adult care and psychiatry for 50 years, and a member of the Save Our Hospital Services group for North Devon, said they have been trying to get a clear picture of what is going on and were promised public meetings with service users and mental health providers working in other parts of Devon, but that hasn’t happened.

She says closing the link centres is the full intention of Devon County Council.

The centres were set up in 1992 and supported people across the community with a range of mental health issues, but more recently staff had been able to assist people suffering from the stresses of their day-to-day lives.

User Anna Fors said there was a misconception that the link centres are just drop-in centres which put on activities and for people with mild mental health issues.

Before the pandemic the link centres were mental health hubs, she said, but the service had been “strangled” with the referral routes stopped, leading to the numbers attending stopping.

“There are a lot of people experiencing symptoms, but there are no referrals from the health teams, the doctors and they can’t self-refer either. I don’t know how we persuade Devon County to reopen those referral routes, but we are going to try.”

Bideford police sergeant Glyn Clark said the new policy of ‘Right care, right place’ which was due to be adopted by the police would mean officers being more detached from mental health issues to tackle crime and this could have an impact on the situation in North Devon if other services are not available.

Deputy leader of the council Cllr Claire Hodson (Ind, Westward Ho!), Torridge’s representative on Devon County Council, said one in four people suffered from mental health problems and it is vitally important that referrals routes open up.

“If you don’t fit in quite the right box for mental health assessment you are seen as too problematic to deal with because who provides those services? As a community we should be asking those questions.

“People in mental health crisis can come to the link centre and get support, it doesn’t not go away, but it helps and they can prevent the person requiring hospitalisation or massive drug treatment.”