TOP mental health consultants have voiced “grave concerns” about proposed cuts to mental health services in Oxfordshire in a letter leaked to the Oxford Mail.

About £5.3m worth of service cuts are being planned to hit Oxfordshire, which could result in a 19 per cent reduction in frontline and administration staff.

A document passed to the Oxford Mail showed the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health (OBMH) trust plans to make the savings by 2014.

It cares for around 14,000 Oxfordshire people with mental health conditions and many patients and families have spoken of their worry at the changes.

Now a letter sent anonymously, but signed on behalf of six key mental health consultants, has outlined serious worries about cuts to front line staff, home visits and risk to patient care.

It warned: “As a 19 per cent reduction in staff and a major reconfiguration of the service are both independently potential sources of risk to patient safety, patient outcomes and untreated morbidity we view these as substantial and controversial chan-ges.

“We therefore think there should be more detailed and considered consultation with all stakeholders, both internal and external before any significant and potentially harmful change to the service takes place.”

The planned changes would include a 15 per cent cut in consultant psychiatrists and additional cuts in health professionals among staff who work with older people.

Two services are also being changed, including the Asser-tive Outreach programme, which supports young people and families in their home.

And the Early Intervention programme, which provides help for 13 to 15-year-olds experiencing their first episode of psychosis, would be combined with another service.

The OBMH said the two services would be incorporated into the work of community mental health teams.

But last night, a pensioner who was raped, and sexually, physically and mentally abused as a child, revealed how she had been told she would no longer receive therapy sessions.

The 66-year-old from West Oxfordshire, who we have agreed not to identify, has been receiving cognitive behavioural therapy over the past 18 months.

She was told she then needed 12 to 18 months of psychology sessions, but claimed she was informed the Community Mental Health teams in her area could not take her on ‘because of the cuts’.

She said: “It feels like every door is just slamming in my face. I went through years of abuse as a child, but I only really began talking about it later on in life.

“Now they have opened a can of worms and have left me to deal with it. No-one I have spoken to seems to know what is going on.

“It is destroying me. If this continues I just do not know what I will do. I can see myself ending it all.”

The OBMH said it was currently undergoing consultation with staff and no changes would be made until this was complete.

A spokesman added: “The views of our service users, their carers and the public are important to us and we will consider the views of the local population through this period of change.

“The aim of the service redesign is to continue to offer high quality services to those people with severe and enduring mental health needs in the current difficult financial environment.”

  • HEALTH worker unions are gearing up to fight against the cuts.

Unison Health Oxfordshire, which represents health workers in the county, called an emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss a plan of action.

It is planning to launch a campaign group made up of different representatives from across the mental health trust and is gathering a petition in defence of the service.

Last night, the mental health trust Joint Union Committee representing staff in the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Nursing and the trade unions Unison and Unite announced their support for the efforts.

Mark Ladbrooke, Unison Oxfordshire health spokesman, said staff had already reported a huge increase in work pressure and stress.

He said: “We had a packed meeting room with many different stories.

“One Community Psychiatric Nurse stood up and said, ‘The idea that front line clinical staff can care for as many patients if support staff are removed and their work bases in the community are closed would be laughable if it were not so serious’.

“Another, a social worker caring for older people, asked who gave them the mandate for these cuts?

“Every day politicians appear on TV promising to protect NHS spending but the reality is that huge ‘efficiency saving targets’ are service cuts.”

  • Do these proposals affect you? Call the Oxford Mail newsdesk on 01865 425500 or email us at news@oxfordmail.co.uk