Health watchdogs raised concerns about the loss of dementia beds in Brighton and Hove as an NHS trust seeks to reorganise mental health services.
At a special meeting of Brighton and Hove City Council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, bosses from Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and NHS Sussex spoke about the reasons behind the proposals.
Sussex Partnership said that it was working with the integrated care board, NHS Sussex, to improve community care for people with dementia in East and West Sussex and increase the number of acute mental health beds in Brighton and Hove.
At the meeting yesterday (Monday 16 September), Sussex Partnership’s chief operating officer John Child said that there was more demand for adult mental health beds in Brighton and Hove.
Labour councillor Julie Cattell asked why people with dementia could not be treated at the Royal Sussex County Hospital.
Mr Child said that the Royal Sussex did not provide acute inpatient care for adults with dementia. It catered primarily for physical health needs.
Sussex Partnership clinical director Laura Brummer said that 22 per cent of all the adult mental health referrals across Sussex – 29 a month – were from Brighton and Hove. But only nine patients were given a bed in Brighton and Hove.
Another clinical director at Sussex Partnership, Padma Dalby, said that the 50 acute dementia unit beds available at three sites across Sussex were used only when people could not be treated in the community.
Currently, she said, more than 40 per cent of those beds were occupied by people who could be looked after at home if there was better community support.
Of the 79 admissions to Brunswick, the dementia ward at Mill View Hospital, in Hove, from June 2022 to July this year, 61 patients were from East and West Sussex and 18 from Brighton and Hove.
The trust wants to create 15 acute mental health beds at Mill View to treat 60 to 70 more patients a year closer to home.
It said that this would take the pressure off the Royal Sussex where many people go in a mental health crisis.
Older People’s Council chair Mary Davies said that having dementia beds at Worthing and Uckfield only would be disorienting for people from Brighton and Hove and they would be cut off from family, friends and community.
She said: “This discriminates against people on the basis of age and disability. Who are most likely to be their carers? Family members, predominately their spouse or partner.
“This group, too, are likely to be older residents with their own health and access issues. They too will be discriminated against in terms of age and disability.”
Brighton and Hove Healthwatch chair Geoffrey Bowden said that even though the intentions might be good, his organisation would ultimately hear from concerned carers travelling miles to see their relatives.
Oh dear,the most vulnerable in society are getting shat on,can I remind everyone that we are all getting old,if this selfish world could just realise that for a second please.
Hmm, I’m of two minds about this, dementia care is something, I feel should happen in a home or care home setting. I don’t think a hospital is a particularly nice place for those suffering from the disease and often can be quite distressing for the individual.
This is good news for the Royal Sussex County hospital A&E where I work. The sheer volume of mental health patients awaiting Mental Health beds in the department adversely affect care given to acutely ill patients, as some A&E nurses are diverted from their normal duties to monitor mental health patients closely, acting as Mental Health nurses
It appears that the pressure on “working age”,ie: under age 65, is driving this drastic policy. A main factor will be the enormous travelling difficulties faced by B&h family and friends without cars , particularly elderly spouses and children who could be in their 60s or 70s with additional physical health needs.