In-patient Mental Health Services (Children and Adolescents)

Andrew Percy Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Alan Johnson]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. YoungMinds, the charity that deals specifically with child and adolescent mental health, makes exactly the same point. We need early intervention, and if we are cutting back on tier 3 there will be a bigger problem with tier 4. If the problems are not addressed anyway, we are stacking up a host of problems, and costs, never mind the tragedy to the individuals when they reach adulthood.

It is difficult to escape the conclusion that the changes have nothing to do with improving care, and everything to do with saving money. The closure of the West End unit has had a profound effect. I have a constituent who is a single mother, who works for the NHS as a staff nurse, whose 13-year-old daughter suffered a severe mental breakdown two years ago. Her daughter spent nine months at West End, which opened at weekends specifically to accommodate her needs. Her mother believes that the treatment given by the excellent staff at West End saved her little girl’s life.

When my constituent’s daughter needed further treatment this year, after West End had closed its in-patient facility, she was first of all sent to Leeds, 66 miles away, where the inability of her mother and five-year-old brother to spend as much time with her, led to a further deterioration in her health. She was then incarcerated with young offenders in Cheadle, 103 miles from her home. Her mother, coping with a five-year-old son and a job in the NHS, spent nine hours travelling to have just one hour with her daughter. For the rest of the time she was forced to listen to her deeply unhappy daughter sobbing at the other end of a phone. Is this what the NHS has come to? Is this the kind of treatment that any of us would accept for our children?

[Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole) (Con)]

I congratulate the right hon. Gentleman on securing the debate. Obviously, this is a matter that affects my constituency too. He is right to raise the issue, but sadly this is nothing new. In 2008, my constituency saw all its in-patient mental health beds go, resulting in patients having to travel much further, often to Hull, and their families struggling to be near them, so I agree with him entirely on this point. Does he agree that it is important that people are treated in the community as much as possible, but where necessary, treated at in-patient units in their localities?

[Alan Johnson]

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. He is talking about the closure of adult in-patient services, which had to move from Goole to Hull. The irony is that in-patient mental health facilities for adults exist in Hull. Providing care close to home is important for adults, but surely it is even more important for six, seven and eight-year-old children. The further away they are from their parents, the more their mental health situation is likely to deteriorate.