Cuts in Oxfordshire's mental health services could lead to an increase in suicides across the country, according to one of the UK's top psychiatric experts.

Prof Keith Hawton, director of Oxford University's centre for suicide research, has warned that the closure of the Barnes Unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital would have damaging consequences.

The unit cares for self-harm patients who arrive at the accident and emergency department and is one of a number of services which could be cut by Oxfordshire Mental Healthcare NHS Trust to save £1.7m.

The trust has proposed redundancies among 20 per cent of its junior doctors and 25 per cent of its consultants -- including two doctors at the Barnes Unit.

At an Oxfordshire health overview and scrutiny committee meeting yesterday, Prof Hawton -- a key witness at the Hutton Inquiry into the death of Oxfordshire weapons expert Dr David Kelly -- said: "This will undermine care for some of Oxfordshire's most vulnerable people. There's potential risk for an increase in suicides.

"I can only conclude that if this happens, it will be an outrage and a tragedy for many people in Oxfordshire."

About 60 to 70 people in the county commit suicide every year, many of whom were self-harmers.

The Barnes Unit cares for more than 70 per cent of people who arrive at the JR after self-harming -- about 1,675 people a year, six per cent of whom are under 15. Its staff offer them specialist assessments, prescriptions and follow-up advice, and can admit them to psychiatric inpatient beds.

If axed, its work will be taken over by the mental health trust's Crisis Resolution Team, based at the Littlemore Hospital, which provides emergency care to patients in the community.

Prof Hawton said: "The crisis resolution team already has extended commitments and is based miles away. I believe the consequences of this are that fewer patients will get the correct psycho-social assessments, an increase in self-harm and and increase in patients attending the JR.

"There will be longer hospital stays for patients and the JR casualty department is likely to start breaching its four-hour waiting time target.

"There will also be an increase in psychiatric inpatient care within the mental healthcare trust and GPs will have to take on more after-care.

"There will also be damage to long-standing research, which has underpinned much of our understanding of deliberate self-harm."

The scrutiny committee agreed to write to Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt, to condemn the Government for reneging on promised funding for Thames Valley Health Authority, which has ordered local NHS trusts to make savings to clear a £34m deficit. Members also approved a three-month consultation on the proposed mental health cuts, but warned the trust would have to listen to the views of the public.

Chairman Dr Peter Skolar said: "This does not mean that you can consult and then do what you want.

"It means we will listen to people and if there are any changes to be made to the plans as a result, our views will have to be taken into account."