11:26am Thursday 11th May 2006
By Jill Crooks
MENTAL health patient Nigel Tolley believes the proposed cuts in inpatient beds will lead to more suicides.
Mr Tolley, currently an inpatient at Green Lane Hospital in Devizes, says the care he has received from the staff at the hospital has turned his life around.
Mr Tolley, 40, spoke of his fears at a public meeting organised by the mental health trust in Devizes last Wednesday at the town hall.
The Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust has to save £2million and is proposing to close more than 30 beds including some at Green Lane Hospital and Charter House in Trowbridge, and treat more patients in their own homes.
The trust says admitting adults of working age into hospital will be avoided wherever possible and it plans to set up a 24 hour crisis service. Rowden Hill Day Hospital in Chippenham will also close.
The changes will mean a number of jobs at Green Lane Hospital are under threat.
Mr Tolley has suffered mental illness for over 20 years. He has post traumatic stress disorder as a result of being abused as a child.
Mr Tolley and his wife, Ruth, of Stanton St Quinton, near Chippenham, fear some patients who will be treated at home under the new policy will slip below the net.
Mr Tolley, originally from Kidderminster, said: "I understand why it's important to treat patients in the community but what happens if, like me, their own homes are a stressful environment which increases their emotional problems and also those of their main carers?
"Where can they go? At the moment places like Green Lane Hospital provide a peaceful safe environment and emotional support.
"In my opinion this is yet another huge waste of taxpayers' money and people's lives will deteriorate or even end because of it."
Mr Tolley and his wife, who have been together for 18 years, moved to Wiltshire in 1999 and in the last six years he has spent up to two years on and off at Green Lane Hospital.
He said: "When I first came to Green Lane I was so traumatised I could not communicate with doctors and nurses. I did not trust them. A cleaner used to sit with me everyday for 15 minutes and talk. By doing this I started to communicate."
Mr Tolley said he was on the road to recovery thanks to psychotherapy and art therapy he has received at the hospital. He added: "Cutting beds will mean this wonderful environment at Green Lane will not be available for people as the trust will treat nearly everyone in the community.
"We are the most vulnerable people in society and this is all down to saving money. The staff at Green Lane gave me my life back and they need to be supported, they don't need redundancy."
Mrs Tolley, 40, a self employed herdswoman and part time cleaner, said: "A crisis team and community psychiatric nurse (CPN) cannot give the same cover that a hospital does.
"Looking after someone with mental health problems really does put a huge strain on you and for them to go into hospital when they have a crisis point, just for a few days, is essential for them and the carer."
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