CONCERN has been expressed about the closure of a hospital ward for people with acute mental health problems.

One of the two wards at the 13-year-old East Cleveland Hospital, in Brotton, has been mothballed for the past seven months.

Coun Brian Briggs, a member of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, said he was disappointed at the closure of the Boulby ward. “You have a facility which is not being used. We need some answers,” he told the D&S Times.

Coun Briggs, of Skelton, is chairman of the council’s main overview and scrutiny committee, whose health and social well-being section first heard about the proposed shutdown in January last year.

Members raised no objections to the proposal when they discussed it with Health Service officials in July 2007. They learned then that only one patient was occupying the eightbed ward.

Former councillor Ian Johnson, of Skelton, expressed his concern at a public meeting held by the local primary care trust at Brotton two months ago.

He told the meeting at Freebrough College: “I understand there is probably a ward closed at the Brotton hospital. Why not improve it?”

Mr Johnson, who served for 30 years on local authorities, including Cleveland County Council, told the D&S Times: “The public is not being told the truth about the hospital and its long-term future. Other facilities have been downgraded and the public not told.”

He suggested that Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Ashok Kumar should raise the issue with the Health Secretary, Alan Johnson.

The Boulby ward, which provided 24-hour care, was run by the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust, but the accommodation is managed by the PCT’s community services section, based in Guisborough.

Mental health trust spokeswoman Julie Oliver confirmed that the ward closed officially on March 1 this year.

She added: “In recent years, the care of people with mental health problems has changed dramatically, with more and more people able to receive the care and support they need in their own homes.

“Those that need hospital care are those with the most severe mental health problems and, as a small, isolated unit, Boulby ward was not able to care for these people. Occupancy levels on the ward fell over a two-year period and the ward was empty from August 2007.

“Over the following five months, the trust talked with a wide range of people, including user, carer and staff groups and Redcar and Cleveland (Council’s) health overview and scrutiny committee about the future of Boulby ward. Following a public meeting in January, the trust reported back to the overview committee and agreed that the ward would close. All the staff from the ward took up alternative employment within the trust and the building was handed back to Middlesbrough PCT.”

Martin Gilligan, a senior manager with the PCT’s community services unit, said they ran the other ward at Brotton for elderly care, rehabilitation and palliative care.

He said: “We recently used the empty space on Boulby ward for nine weeks to accommodate eight patients due to a major refurbishment at Guisborough Hospital and the need to relocate the patients. They moved back on September 16 when the refurbished ward at Guisborough reopened.”

He said the PCT had no immediate plans for the Brotton hospital ward’s future use, but members were considering what it could be used for. “We do not want such a valuable resource standing empty for any longer than is necessary.

“We often develop new services in conjunction with our commissioners (other NHS sections).

Boulby could be used to accommodate one of these or house one of our existing services that has had to relocate due to their accommodation either permanently or temporarily being unavailable. The longer-term view though is to house a service in Boulby.”

East Cleveland Hospital, which replaced a cottage hospital, has an outpatients’ unit which treats minor injuries.