Frequently Asked Questions 

What is Mental health matters?*

In a nutshell, Mental health matters is a clear signal that mental health is no longer a Cinderella service in Lancashire.

Mental health matters is the name given to the biggest programme of improvement in mental health hospital services ever seen in Lancashire. The aim of this 10 year programme, which is being carried out by Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust, is to provide mental health hospital services that are fit for the 21st century.

Four new specialist mental health hospitals are to be built across Lancashire, replacing 15 existing inpatient sites, which are out-dated and cramped and which do not meet the needs and expectations of the people who use our services.

The cost of this programme of improvement, which is only partly about buildings and much more about people, is likely to be around £150m. It will mean improved care for people who use our services and greater opportunities for staff to increase the range of services they are able to provide in hospital.

This programme of improvement comes after four to five years of constant improvement to mental health services outside hospital, in the community. Costing a massive £32m, these improvements to community services have marked the biggest programme of investment to date ever seen in Lancashire. They have resulted in county-wide community mental health services and offer a much bigger choice of alternatives to hospital care for people who experience mental illness and their carers.

This is great news for the people of Lancashire, which has also resulted in a much lower demand for hospital beds and less crowded hospitals.

* Mental Health Matters is also the name of a registered charity, which has kindly said it has no objection to us using the same name for our improvement programme.

Why is all this change necessary? Why can’t things stay as they are?

There are many reasons why changes are necessary to mental health hospital services. Mental health care has changed a great deal in recent years as have the needs and expectations of the people who use our services and their carers. Much progress has also been made in terms of care and treatment of people with mental illness, particularly in what can be called the ‘talking’ therapies.

Evidence shows that, where possible, people prefer not to be treated in hospital and would rather receive their care and be treated closer to home, or at home, if that is in their best interests. The investment of £32m over the past few years in community mental health services that meet people’s individual needs and circumstances means that there are now many more real alternatives to hospital care.

We understand and recognise that people also need to know that a hospital bed will be there for them in a crisis or emergency situation and that is exactly what we are planning to provide.

How many people will be affected by these changes to hospital services?

Mental health is part of everyone’s life. On any day in any year one in six people will have a diagnosable anxiety and depression. One in four GP consultations concern mental health issues.

Evidence also shows that about half of all people will experience depression in their lifetime, another 3 or 4% will experience a severe mental disorder and a further 10% will have dementia.

Only one person in 10 in Lancashire who has a mental health problem will reach our services. The rest will be cared for appropriately by their GP.

Only one person in 10 of those people who do reach our services – that is just 1% of the total - will need to be admitted to a hospital bed.

Where will these four new hospitals be built?

These hospitals will be built in the Trust’s four health communities in Lancashire:

Where will the money come from for these new hospitals?

No firm decisions have yet been made. We are considering a range of options, one of which may include partnerships with the private sector (Private Finance Initiatives). However, great care will be taken to ensure that any such partnerships are affordable and make financial sense long into the future.

We have recently become a new type of NHS organisation, an NHS Foundation Trust, which will enable us to raise our own capital and invest any surplus funds, which we are not allowed to do at the moment. We have worked very hard in the past five years to become financially secure and hope to use some of this money to fund the hospital improvement programme.

Have you consulted staff and the public on your plans?

Yes. Our proposals to build three new mental health hospitals and close all our existing sites, none of which are fit for the purpose, were the subject last year of public consultation* by the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts (PCTs). These are the health bodies that plan and buy mental health services. The response to the consultation from our staff, the people who use our services, their carers, our partners and the general public showed that the majority understood and agreed with our broad aims and objectives.

Following the end of the public consultation, a reorganisation in the NHS involving PCTs meant that our Trust took over the mental health services provided by Morecambe Bay PCT. This PCT had already consulted on changes to its mental health services. For this reason, we included a fourth mental health hospital in our plans to serve its health community.

*More information is available about the public consultation by clicking here.

Will staff and members of the public still be involved in developing mental health services for Lancashire?

Most certainly, yes. We will continue our discussions with staff, service users, carers and our partners as we develop our proposals for the range of services to be provided in the new hospitals and, just as importantly, as we make plans for the closure of our 15 existing sites, none of which are suited to providing modern day mental health care. None of these sites will be closed until new facilities are available.
The process of choosing suitable sites for our new hospitals was one of the vital issues on which we sought views through a series of special events we arranged for our staff and a wide range of other partners with an interest in mental health services including representatives of the general public.

To date we have held talks with the PCTs and we have also held a special event for our staff. Our Medical Director, Professor Max Marshall, led a series of presentations on our proposals at the event, which took place on Wednesday, June 6 2007, for an invited audience of more than 120 staff (of whom 70 attended). The event included a workshop session during which staff considered issues ranging from specialist services to the factors to be taken into account when choosing possible sites for the new hospitals.

The criteria for the choice of possible sites was also the subject of another special, ‘listening and responding’ event we organised on June 13 2007. This was for an invited audience of approximately 430 people who use our services their carers, voluntary organisations, Patient and Public Involvement representatives, Foundation Trust members and young people from The Junction, our new inpatient unit for young people. In total 106 attended.

A detailed record of the views of our staff, the people who use our services, carers and partners was made of these events and has been taken into account during the preparation of our Strategic Outline Case (SOC) for the North West Strategic Health Authority (SHA). (The SHA is the NHS organisation that takes the lead in ensuring that local health services are of world class quality and are performing well for the benefit of people right across Lancashire).

Our SOC, which is the first stage in the process of improving mental health hospital services in Lancashire, sets out our proposals and our thoughts on how they could be paid for.

What will happen next?

We expect a response to the SOC from the SHA later this year. There are many more stages to come in the process after this. We are now completing what is known as an Outline Business Case. This is a very detailed document, which is likely to take six to nine months to complete. This will also need to be approved by the SHA and we will then need to prepare an even more detailed Full Business Case. After that we will have to appoint architects and builders, all of which can be a lengthy process to make sure we get it right.

In short, there will be no ‘big bang’ overnight. We do not expect to lay the first brick for a new hospital for at least three years and we expect the whole project will take at least 10 years.

Will any staff lose their jobs?

We do not anticipate that any staff will lose their jobs. On the contrary, as the service develops we anticipate there will be new roles for staff and new ways of caring for the people who use our services.

Mental health matters is only partly about bricks and mortar. It is also about building on what we already do so well and developing our services in a way that delivers the greatest benefits to patients. It is about changing roles and creating exciting new opportunities for our staff to gain new skills and develop new, leading edge approaches to care and treatment, for example, in behavioural therapy.

What type of services will you be providing from these new hospitals?

Fylde coast: the units will replace current wards at Parkwood, Lytham Hospital and Fleetwood Hospital. Some wards will specialise in the care of older people over the age of 65. There may be separate wards for younger people aged from 16 upwards.

Central Lancashire: the units will replace current wards at Preston and Chorley. Some wards will specialise in the care of older people over the age of 65. There may be separate wards for younger people aged from 16 upwards. These units will not replace our site at Whittingham.

Lancaster: the units will replace current wards at Ridge Lea and will supplement the older people’s unit already on site. It will not provide the low secure-type services.

How big will the units be?

The units will vary in size. A maximum number of beds on any site is likely to be around 150, although some sites might have less than 100 beds.

Parkwood, Lytham and Fleetwood Hospitals currently provide up to 274 beds.

Existing sites at Preston, Chorley, Ormskirk and Ribbleton provide up to 208 beds.

It is likely that the Lancaster site will have fewer than 100 beds as there are currently only 44 beds of this type in Lancaster and Morecambe.

Why were these sites chosen rather than one of the others in the area?

The Trust Board took into account a wide range of views ranging from local people, service users, and local primary care trusts.

In simplest terms, in the Fylde Coast, the site at Devonshire Road is too small for what we need and the site at Norcross considered to be too far away from other facilities, public transport and unlikely to get planning consent.

In central Lancashire, the Sharoe Green and Buckshaw Village sites were not considered big enough for what we needed.

In the north Lancashire area, the site in the south of Lancaster was considered unlikely to get planning consent as the council wishes to maintain green space around Galgate to prevent Lancaster and Galgate from merging. The Wyresdale Road site was withdrawn by the owner and the Ridge Lea site was too expensive to renovate in comparison with the other sites.

What will the units look like?

Units will be designed to fit in with the local area and we intend that they will be designed to resemble a small hotel with grounds and car parking, meaning that the units would sit well back from any roads etc.

Full plans and designs will be available as part of the planning application when submitted.

How much traffic will there be?

Once the building work is completed then the traffic will be generally limited to staff coming to and from work and visitors during the day. There is not an A&E or any service that will lead to an increase in night time traffic.

What about parking?

Each of the units will be designed with ample parking on site so that it will not disrupt local residents’ parking.

When will the hospital building work begin?

It is anticipated that the first site will commence in 2009 for completion no sooner than 2011. The other units will be built in subsequent years. It is unlikely that work will be able to start on final site until 2016. We will gradually reduce the number of people using Ribbleton and Ridge Lea over several months and ensure that all the current service users and carers are involved in plans to transfer people.

What level of light pollution will there be?

Lighting levels on site will need to ensure safety but we will always take into account the needs of nearby housing and follow recommended guidelines. Full details will be included in the planning application.

When will the hospitals be finished?

It is anticipated that the first new hospital will be operational by 2011.

How will you protect the environment?

Some environmental impact work has already taken place and more will be done as part of the planning process. We will consider how the units will look, the materials we use for building them and traffic impact. We want the sites to be landscaped and they will have gardens.

If you have a query that isn't listed please get in touch by clicking here.