Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the October 2015 document Building the Right Support: A national implementation plan to develop community services and close inpatient facilities, how many hospital beds at the Calderstones site have been closed.

Building the Right Support, published in October 2015, set out the national plan to develop community services for people with learning disability and autism who are mental health inpatients, so they can leave hospital and receive more appropriate care and enjoy better outcomes in the community. This reduces the need for specialist inpatient beds.

140 beds (59% of the original total) at the Merseycare Whalley site, formerly known as Calderstones Hospital, have been closed by National Health Service commissioners over the last five years. The safety of patients remains the over-riding priority for the NHS, so appropriate support needs to be in place for everyone to ensure a smooth transition to any new care package or facility before beds are closed. Discussions about the timescales for formal closure of the site are ongoing.

The attached table shows the reductions in numbers of beds in each of the fast-track Transforming Care Partnerships referred to in the Building the Right Support publication.

During 2016/17, all Transforming Care Partnerships published local transformation plans.

NHS England has commissioned an evaluation of progress made since publication of Building the Right Support. The report is expected to be published in 2019. Latest figures from NHS Digital show around a 19% reduction in people with a learning disability, autism or both in an inpatient setting from March 2015.

Further improvement in outcomes, health and care for people with a learning disabilities and autism is a clinical priority as part of the long-term plan for the NHS, which will be published shortly.