A campaign is underway to save the town’s mental health ward from closure.
Campaigners have launched a petition to save the Millbrook Unit at Macclesfield Hospital, saying it’s a lifeline for patients who desperately need care.
It comes after bosses at Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (CWP) drew up proposals to close the unit as part of a review of mental health services in East Cheshire. The plans have hit a delay after the council rejected CWP’s proposed consultation document on the review – buying more time for campaigners to fight to save the centre.
The unit is the only adult and older people’s inpatient facility for mental health in Cheshire East and if it closes patients would be sent to Bowmere Hospital in Chester or Springview in the Wirral, a trip of more than 40 miles.
The man leading the campaign is Michael Heale, 68, of Kennedy Avenue, Macclesfield, chairman of the East Cheshire Mental Health Forum who has suffered from mental health problems in the past and been a patient at Millbrook Unit.
He said: “It would be disastrous if Macclesfield lost its mental health ward. We need acute care beds to look after the most seriously ill patients.
“I’ve been in the care of services for 30 years and now I’m stable and living a normal life.
“Living with mental health problems can be lonely and scary. It’s dangerous if people can’t get care. We need a dedicated mental health unit in Macclesfield.”
Coun Alift Harewood-Jones, a former mental health nurse and ex-member of Healthwatch Cheshire East which works with residents to shape health services, urged people to get behind the petition.
She said: “I urge people to support this campaign, it’s so important for the people who need these services. I hope people will sign the petition and fight to keep mental health services in Macclesfield.
“People with mental health problems need emotional support and should not be 40 miles away from their friends and families. It’s a disgrace that Macclesfield may be left with no mental health ward.”
Macclesfield MP David Rutley is also backing the campaign.
He said: “Health service professionals are putting more focus on stronger community services to help patients but it’s vital that we continue to have the beds required in Macclesfield to provide the right care for residents.”
Millbrook Unit replaced the old Parkside mental health hospital 20 years ago and treats conditions including anxiety, depression, psychosis and eating disorders.
The trust has drawn up options for reviewing services in a document for public consultation. Its preferred option is to close the Millbrook Unit, focusing instead on community care. It states the building – which has 44 beds and 14 for dementia – is not fit for purpose and closing it could save £1.1 million a year. Other options include keeping dementia care for people over 65 in Macclesfield, at Lime Walk House, the town’s rehabilitation and assessment mental health unit.
The trust presented plans to the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee in March. It needs the committee’s approval before the plans can go out to public consultation. But councillors rejected the document, the second time the committee has rejected the proposals.
Members of the committee expressed concerns about the additional pressures that could be passed on to emergency services if patients had to be transported over a longer distance to mental health care.
Coun Laura Jeuda, councillor for Macclesfield South and a former social worker who is a member of the committee, said: “We felt we didn’t have enough information about the alternatives if the Millbrook Unit shuts and asked CWP to come back with more information.
“It would be absolutely disastrous if the unit goes. They say it’s not fit for modern standards but rather than closing it we need a proper alternative. I’m very concerned about people having to travel to Chester. The trouble is the trust is dealing with a huge deficit but we need to make sure we retain a ward in Macclesfield.
“You can’t just get rid of a unit which so many vulnerable people rely on.”
A trust spokesman said: “Pre-consultation engagement has already been instrumental in our thinking and we are fully committed to continuing to engage with service users, carers, key representative groups and members of the public including the ‘Do You Mind’ group.
“There will be a public consultation which is expected to take place later this year. This will be a joint consultation by CWP and the three commissioners of the services in question. These are NHS Eastern Cheshire, South Cheshire and Vale Royal Clinical Commissioning Groups.”
Go to doyoumind.co.uk for more on the campaign and to sign the petition.
