Campaigners fighting to keep mental health support services running at the Wellbeing Hub, in Preston Park, were given cross-party support by councillors.
Protesters gathered outside Hove Town Hall before a Brighton and Hove City Council meeting and urged members to reject proposals to cut services from five days a week to just six hours.
The hub is run by the not-for-profit community care provider Southdown and umbrella group UOK Brighton and Hove. It was described as providing “consistent therapeutic support, community and stability” for its clients.
The proposal to cut the service has come as the Sussex Integrated Care Board (ICB), also known as NHS Sussex, reorganises its services as it merges with Surrey Heartlands (ICB) on Wednesday (1 April).
Patrick Ward addressed the meeting of the full council last Thursday (26 March) and said that he represented about 400 service users of what was previously known as the Preston Park Recovery Centre.
The deputation called on the council to ask its Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee to support an immediate pause to any changes.
Mr Ward said that the hub reduced pressure on NHS mental health services and the proposed changes would lead to a “sudden and dangerous” loss of support.
He said: “For many, the hub is a vital safety net. Removing or significantly reducing it risks serious deterioration in both our mental and physical health.
“These changes will not reduce costs. On the contrary, they are likely to increase demand on NHS crisis services and adult social care.
“The proposed satellite services cannot replicate the depth, consistency or sense of safety currently provided.”
Ali Reeves, who uses the hub, presented a petition with 3,343 signatures and said that the proposed reduction from five days a week of structured support and activities to just six hours was the “loss of a lifeline”.
Dr Reeves said: “While wider Sussex mental health services are being redesigned due to budget pressures, these cuts disproportionately and severely impact existing hub clients.
“Proposed satellite services across Sussex cannot replace the depth of support or sense of safety the hub provides.
“There is no meaningful transition plan for current clients. Many report feeling devastated and unsafe and fear their mental health will deteriorate, increasing reliance on already overstretched crisis services.”
The petition called for an immediate pause to the proposals until a full public consultation could take place and for NHS Sussex, Southdown and UOK to reassess the effects of the changes.
Labour councillor Mitchie Alexander, the council’s cabinet member for adult social care, said that the council funded 20 per cent of the contract, covering community development, communications and training, through the public health grant.
People in the public gallery at Hove Town Hall applauded as Councillor Alexander said: “As a council, we acknowledge the serious financial restraints facing services, both in the NHS and in adult social care.
“The NHS commissioners are very happy to be contacted about the wellbeing hub … As an administration, we will be lobbying the NHS ICB about this and we will be forwarding all your concerns.”
Green councillor Kerry Pickett, who represents Preston Park ward, said that the hub used to operate a café and offer Sunday roasts but now the kitchen was redundant and previous cuts ended weekend opening.
Councillor Pickett was also applauded when she said: “Reduced hours are already squeezing service availability, until what?
“A successful service that has kept clients out of hospital, relieving pressure on the NHS, aiding recovery, is diluted at a time when its services are ever more needed until the service no longer appears to provide value-for-money and is quietly closed.”
Conservative councillor Emma Hogan, who is also a consultant psychiatrist, said that her party supported campaigners’ requests.
She was disappointed that the reduced service removed the group programmes which created a support network for people with mental health needs.
Councillor Hogan said: “It is likely that this period of uncertainty will be very destabilising for the 400 or so users of this service.
“And I am afraid to say, it is likely that some of them may need higher-intensity support such as crisis services or perhaps even hospital.”
The council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee is due to meet on Wednesday 22 April.
One of the things Social Prescribers do to help patients with mental health issues is to prescribe leisure and sporting activities. The loss of the King Alfred will affect hundreds of such patients who are prescribed free or subsidised activities there. These social and public asset losses are all interconnected. Even losing libraries disproportionately affects residents with mental health issues or even just plain loneliness and social isolation. 2 branch Libraries are being closed by this Labour Council on 1st April. Just to rub it in. There is no care in the community and vanishingly even less so the more public facilities are lost. The cost savings will last very briefly until it is noticed that other budgets have massively increased owing to to the knock on effects of losing preventative service and amenities. This is short sightedness and short termism at its worst. It seems Labour are not expecting to be re-elected next year so are swinging as big a wrecking ball as they can while they can. Shame on Ms Sankey and her administration.
That’s a really thoughtful point, James. It’s easy to look at each cut in isolation, but you’re right—things like leisure centres, libraries, and community spaces all play a big role in people’s mental health and sense of connection.
Hopefully the council and the NHS take that wider impact into account, because losing those preventative supports can end up costing much more in the long run, both financially and for people’s wellbeing.
Thank you James. Sadly I’ve never known a BH council adminstration display such a lack of human empathy, humanity and decency in addition to a short-sightedness in decision making, which makes them foolish on top. Unless previous council administrations were simply better at hiding it.
So the Labour government cut ICB staff budgets nationally by 50% and Labour councillors in Brighton have the audacity to ‘join’ campaigners in protest, rather than doing ANYTHING PRACTICAL to raise concerns with central government about the impact of NHS reorganisation chaos locally. It’s like we’re living in some surreal universe where politicians mock protest about situations their party have created in the first place (alongside Tory NHS underfunding over 14 years).
In a Health Foundation report just this week, it was reported that “ICB leaders who spoke to researchers labelled the cuts as “disgraceful”, “unprofessional”, and “an absolute sh*tsh*w” – why don’t Labour councillors in this city have any backbone and challenge their Labour government on the ongoing damage of austerity and the MANY harmful policies and changes they are pushing through.
https://www.hsj.co.uk/integrated-care/icb-cuts-an-absolute-shitshow-say-leaders/7041248.article