Revealed: Mental Health Services Overhaul In East Sussex

The first steps of plans which could lead to major changes to mental health services in East Sussex have been discussed by councillors this week. 

On Thursday (March 4), the East Sussex Health Overview Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) met to discuss NHS plans to replace the Department of Psychiatry at Eastbourne DGH with a “state-of-the-art” inpatient mental health facility at a as-yet-unknown location.

While still at an early stage, the NHS says its long-term ambition would be to potentially expand this facility into a “single campus sufficient to service all of the mental health inpatient needs of the people of East Sussex, now and in the future”.

This saw some concerns raised by committee members, however, due to fears the long term plan could lead to the loss of local services and impact on some residents’ access to care. 

Cllr Alan Shuttleworth, a Liberal Democrat county councillor representing Eastbourne, said:

“I just want to get my head around the advantages to putting the service on one state-of-the-art site as against the advantages of having provision in three different areas within the county. 

“If the site were, for example, to be in Hailsham that is obviously a lot less accessible to people than in one of the big towns.

“I know we haven’t made any decisions on this, but I’m just putting that out there as whether that is something which is being considered.”

A similar point was raised by Hastings borough councillor Mike Turner (Lab), who said he had concerns around the impact of a single campus facility on those from deprived areas, as it could potentially make it harder for family members to visit.

He also asked for more about what the long-term proposals could mean for the future of the Woodlands Centre – an acute care facility in Hastings.

In response to these concerns NHS representatives argued that, at this stage, the plans were only around replacing the existing Eastbourne-based Department of Psychiatry and that there are currently no plans to decommission other services.

This is primarily because the Eastbourne facility (the largest in East Sussex) is dormitory-based – a practice the government wants to phase out by March 2024.

On top of that, the facility is leased from East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust – the body responsible for both the DGH and Conquest Hospital – by the Sussex Partnership NHS Trust and has been asked to vacate the premises by 2026

These arguments saw some criticism from councillors, however.

County councillor Angharad Davies (Con, Northern Rother) said:

“I have to say from the report you’ve given us it isn’t really clear that in the first phase you are just planning to move three wards from the DGH. It isn’t clear.

“It seemed to me as if you were tackling a new vision for psychiatry in East Sussex and that you were planning to do it in phases. 

“If you are only moving the Department of Psychiatry as phase one with no long term plan for the rest of the psychiatric services then it doesn’t seem such a brilliant idea.”

In response, Jessica Britton of the East Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said:

“I can only apologise if the paper was insufficiently clear.  It is absolutely right that the current priority is to eradicate the dormitory provision in the Department of Psychiatry, because not only is that a national requirement but it would significantly improve the environment in which we can provide that care. 

“What we have been aiming to do is offer a longer term potential vision because in securing a site in terms of providing the Department of Psychiatry we wouldn’t want to preclude any potential for future development. 

“From our perspective it is an excellent opportunity to eradicate the dormitory provision we currently have there, but also just have an eye to potential changes into the future, in order not to be creating something that may not fit with a future direction of travel.”

The existing Department of Psychiatry provides 54 acute mental health care beds across three wards, as well as crisis services and a “place of safety” where police officers can take people they believe need a mental health assessment.

As a first stage, the new facility would simply seek to replace these services, providing the same amount of beds, but in a different configuration. NHS representatives said the site could provide as many as 130 or 140 beds in the long-term, however. 

According to the NHS, there are three shortlisted sites for this new facility – Eastbourne, Hailsham and Bexhill. 

While no decision has been made as yet, the NHS has previously it is likely to be “somewhere other than Eastbourne” as it would not be compatible with the longer term ambitions to expand.

The NHS says the facility is likely to be built within the next three years, should funding be agreed. 

After discussion, HOSC asked for further details of the proposals to come forward in June.

More details of the proposals are also set to come as part of a public consultation, which is currently expected to take place sometime in early 2022.