Watchdogs Raise Concerns Over Loss Of Dementia Beds In Brighton And Hove

Health watchdogs raised concerns about the loss of dementia beds in Brighton and Hove as an NHS trust seeks to reorganise mental health services.

At a special meeting of Brighton and Hove City Council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, bosses from Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and NHS Sussex spoke about the reasons behind the proposals.

Sussex Partnership said that it was working with the integrated care board, NHS Sussex, to improve community care for people with dementia in East and West Sussex and increase the number of acute mental health beds in Brighton and Hove.

At the meeting yesterday (Monday 16 September), Sussex Partnership’s chief operating officer John Child said that there was more demand for adult mental health beds in Brighton and Hove.

Labour councillor Julie Cattell asked why people with dementia could not be treated at the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

Mr Child said that the Royal Sussex did not provide acute inpatient care for adults with dementia. It catered for physical health needs.

Sussex Partnership clinical director Laura Brummer said that 22 per cent of all the adult mental health referrals across Sussex – 29 a month – were from Brighton and Hove. But only nine patients were given a bed in Brighton and Hove.

Another clinical director at Sussex Partnership, Padma Dalby, said that the 50 acute dementia unit beds available at three sites across Sussex were used only when people could not be treated in the community.

Currently, she said, more than 40 per cent of those beds were occupied by people who could be looked after at home if there was better community support.

Of the 79 admissions to Brunswick, the dementia ward at Mill View Hospital, in Hove, from June 2022 to July this year, 61 patients were from East and West Sussex and 18 from Brighton and Hove.

The trust wants to create 15 acute mental health beds at Mill View to treat 60 to 70 more patients a year closer to home.

It said that this would take the pressure off the Royal Sussex where many people go in a mental health crisis.

Older People’s Council chair Mary Davies said that having dementia beds at Worthing and Uckfield only would be disorienting for people from Brighton and Hove and they would be cut off from family, friends and community.

She said:

“This discriminates against people on the basis of age and disability. Who are most likely to be their carers? Family members, predominately their spouse or partner.

“This group, too, are likely to be older residents with their own health and access issues. They too will be discriminated against in terms of age and disability.”

Brighton and Hove Healthwatch chair Geoffrey Bowden said that even though the intentions might be good, his organisation would ultimately hear from concerned carers travelling miles to see their relatives.

Labour councillor Amanda Grimshaw said that her daughter lived in Uckfield and it took 45 minutes to travel from her home in Hangleton to the centre of Brighton before she could even get on a bus to Uckfield.

She said:

“It’s wonderful that we’re getting more mental health provision but it does feel it is at the expense of our patients with dementia who need clinical treatment. We are really concerned at having no provision in the city.”

She said that older people did not like to ask for help and would like to see a service to help them visit their loved ones.

Councillor Grimshaw asked why Worthing people were in Brighton and Hove beds and vice versa and said that losing the provision in Brighton and Hove would result in people having to travel.

Dr Dalby said that the trust always wanted people in hospital to be as close to home as possible and people would be admitted to whichever beds were available.

The committee was told that even though the trust would be reducing the total number of dementia beds to 40, it would been able to treat all patients in need of acute dementia care because of improvements in community services.

Work to refurbish Brunswick Ward is due to start in November and to be completed by next March.