Mary Reid

I've just got home from a significant meeting of the Health Overview Committee. The item that drew considerable public interest was the threatened closure of Springboard, the local NHS workshop for people with mental health problems. I gave some background to this a few weeks ago.

I wish I could give some encouraging news. The Primary Care Trust has withdrawn £1 million from the funding to the Mental Health Trust and recommended that Springboard should no longer be supported as it was 'not one of their core services'. There was no sense of regret by the PCT that people's lives would be placed in turmoil, and no urgency to try to find alternatives. What did emerge was very poor communications between the PCT and the Springboard community.

The Overview Panel is a Council Committee with the remit to analyse and challenge the policies of the main health providers. These are Kingston Primary Care Trust, which commissions services, and the two main local providers of health care, Kingston Hospital and the South West London & St George's Mental Health Trust. We, the Committee members, represent the residents of the Borough, who are all users of health services.

The Overview Committee does not have many powers, but it can insist on a formal consultation on proposals, so that it what we did. There has been no consultation yet about Springboard, not even consultations with the users and staff, so I made it clear that we wanted that kind of conversation to take place as well as formal consultations. At the same time, the needs of each user would be assessed in case no solution is found.

This gives some breathing space in which to explore further whether a local organisation would be willing to run Springboard independently as a social enterprise. Edward Davey MP has been working hard at this, talking with a number of potential organisations.

Today's Surrey Comet has led on the story about the huge cuts that the PCT is proposing, mentioning Springboard. (I'll do a link when they put the story online). It also refers to the related health survey that Ed is putting out across the constituency, so if you get one through the door do read it and respond.