Press release 12/11/07 Rugby proposals at final stage Care chiefs at Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust have agreed plans to develop adult mental health services in Rugby. The proposals, which have been subject to public consultation since the summer, would see a new community mental health resource centre developed as a base for community mental health services in the town, a Rugby crisis house set up to help people experiencing mental distress, and the in-patient Linden Ward moved to new facilities at Coventry’s Caludon Centre. Now Warwickshire Primary Care Trust will make a final decision on the proposals at an extraordinary Trust Board meeting on 5 December. The consultation exercise was launched by the Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust and Warwickshire Primary Care Trust in July. Patients and carers will get better access to the mental health services they need if the plans are approved by the PCT later this year, NHS bosses say. Last year, there were 2,219 referrals to these services, of which 152 needed in-patient hospital care in the Linden Ward. Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust says it wants community services to move from a range of buildings around Rugby to a new central base in the town, improving services and making them easier for people to access. Health chiefs say the Linden Ward – based in a Victorian-built former general hospital ward at the Hospital of St Cross – would close, and services would be moved to the brand new Caludon Centre in Coventry, which opened in 2004. The Partnership Trust’s board agreed the proposals at their meeting earlier this month (12 November), but the PCT make a final decision at their meeting next month. Said Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust chief executive Sandy Taylor: “Our paramount concern is the health and well-being of people who need mental health services in Rugby. “We have worked hard to take account of the views we have received during the public consultation. We have made sure we have amended and evolved our proposals in line with that feedback. “If these plans go ahead, we will be able to make sure our community services are better organised and easier for people to use.
“And those people who do need in-patient care will get a much-improved and a safer service.” Said Warwickshire PCT chief executive David Rose: “No final decisions have yet been taken. We will listen carefully to what people have to say about these proposals, and will now take a close look at the report we receive from the Partnership Trust.”