NHS chiefs under fire over lack of consultation on Telford care centre closure
Health bosses have been criticised for a lack of consultation over the closure of a care centre for vulnerable adults in Telford.
Castle Lodge, in Dawley, has been shut for six months after the trust running it said the building was being under-utilised.
But the South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust was criticised yesterday for not consulting more publicly on the planned changes.
The centre provided a link between the community and inpatient mental health services and was set up as a step-down facility for patients from the old Shelton Hospital in Shrewsbury.
Telford & Wrekin Councillor Derek White told a meeting of the Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee in Shrewsbury details of the planned closure had come to light just days before it happened.
"We are not at all happy about the way the consultation has gone about. No one knew until the final week," he said.
"I'm not saying what you have done is wrong. I'm saying the way you have done it is wrong because you haven't consulted properly."
Geoff Watts, head of mental health services for Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin at the trust, told the meeting a temporary closure had been ordered for an initial six months to gauge the impact of the change.
He said Castle Lodge was being under-utilised, with only two patients at the building due to a push for vulnerable adults to receive more home treatment.
As part of the change, an additional six beds have been made available at the trust's Redwoods Centre in Shrewsbury.
No jobs have been lost through the change, with staff from the centre being reassigned community service roles for people at their homes. He said the closure will help save money for the trust.
"Almost all the costs to us are in the staff used to run it. We have to pay the staff whether they are working with two or 12 people," he said.
"That is the issue and is very important. We can move these staff to do something else and we have already moved the staff."
Castle Lodge was opened by Shropshire County Council in 1962 as a residential home for older people.
It was closed in 1995 as part of a cost-saving exercise and was later converted into community care centre for mental health services.
