The Editor: Richmond & Twickenham Times

Dear Sir


Last week the Rich & Twick carried the headline “”Historic mental health hospital faces closure.”


NO, it does not - not if Richmond, its Council and its voluntary sector puts its foot down and convinces the NHS, our Primary Care Trust and St George’s Trust that closure is a non-starter.


St John’s hospital provides “NHS continuing care” beds for elderly mentally ill patients. Not only is it purpose built, but remarkably it has spare beds - one of Richmond’s long term resources, a “gem” in the words of Paul Lamplugh OBE, founder of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust.


Those spare beds however create a problem. They bring in no revenue, with the consequence that St John’s is for the moment non-viable financially. But not long term. Richmond has a disproportionate and increasing number of elderly patients and there are no signs that mental illness is on the decline. There will be no spare beds in the foreseeable future.


The conclusion is obvious. Fill the spare beds now and if there remains some temporary revenue shortfall, split it between the Council and the PCT, NOT enter into an elaborate and costly rigmarole with the private sector, and leave it to them to replace St John’s services.


The problem is the insularity of the NHS - and its failure to work constructively with Social Services. The NHS regards St John’s as one of its resources, not Richmond’s, and it confines the beds to people with “NHS continuing care” needs. But there are other, lesser continuing care needs that are the responsibility of Social Services.


It should not be beyond the wit of Richmond’s managers - as opposed to its bureaucrats - to fill those beds with Social Services’ patients or those able to pay privately. And if Richmond’s statutory sector still has problems, it should appeal to its voluntary sector. The NHS should not look to the private sector to resolve its management problems - as with Kingston Hospital.


Yours sincerely




Francis King