Plans to cut staff from a “lifeline” art psychotherapy service have been stopped.
South West Yorkshire NHS Partnership has rescinded redundancy notices served on the two members of staff working in the department at Calderdale Royal Hospital, which service users feared would lead to its closure by the end of March.
It follows a campaign by around 60 current, former and prospective patients who have or suffered from mental health issues, one of whom served the trust with legal action over a lack of consultation with service users about the plans.
Lawyers Irwin Mitchell wrote to South West Yorkshire Partnership (SWYPT) NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the service, challenging the closure.
Yogi Amin, a specialist lawyer, said: “This centre provides a very important service to extremely vulnerable people and they were faced with its closure which has caused a lot of extra unnecessary worry and stress.
“We are pleased that the NHS Trust has now withdrawn the redundancy notices served on the NHS staff delivering therapy and we will be watching the pending consultation with interest to make sure the service users have their voices heard appropriately.”
One campaigner, Norah Hamill, who has accessed the service, was pleased with the decision but still concerned about the service’s future.
“We still feel really insecure because we don’t think there is any security for the service at all”, she said.
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“It makes you wonder what would have happened if we hadn’t done anything about it.
“We’ve been in touch with the CQC and the trust’s escalation team
“The therapy is a real life line to people.
“People depend on it and it’s scary to think what would happen to them without it.
“They can access it for as long as they need to and it can be an alternative to taking medication.
“I’m worried that the consultation will just be a paperwork exercise and they will still try to get rid of the service.
“But we are prepared to take this higher if we need to, such as through contacting the health ombudsman and even possibly lodging personal injury claims.
“Arts therapy needs security for at least 20 years.”
Karen Taylor, district director for services in Calderdale and Kirklees, said: “We are fully committed to making sure people who use our services have every opportunity to have their say on any review of treatment options, like the art therapy offered in Calderdale.
“We have decided to therefore pause our current process to make sure it is more complete and consistent.
“We will continue to be in direct contact with people who have used the service or who may be affected by this change.”
