Save Broomhill Rehabilitation Centre

Broomhill has been a hub in the centre of the community in Gedling, Nottingham for over twenty years. The centre works with people who have enduring and complex mental health problems, helping them to move back to independent living.

It is a Nurse-led, 12 bedded inpatient unit. In addition, it supports at least 15 patients in the community who are ex-residents, some of whom have no families or support network.

In 2014 the Care Quality Commissioners inspected Broomhill and reported that it is an effective well run service that provides an excellent quality of care.

Using the rationale that ‘patients prefer to be treated in their own home’, and that costs must be saved, the NHS Trust that Broomhill is part of is planning to close the unit down by October 1st 2015.

No-one would argue that patients should be treated in their own home but this is an oversimplification of the problem.

The in-patients at Broomhill have very difficult needs. They require very skilled help and good therapeutic relationships before they are able to live independently. After patients have been through Broomhill they generally successfully move on to more independent living or their own home where they can either be supported by a Community Team. Or they move into Broomhills outreach where they find accommodation in the community and Broomhill. It provides a 24/7 service for patients and carers to contact if they are in crisis

If Broomhill is closed it is likely one of 3 things will happen to our patients with complex needs:

1. they will be discharged from acute mental health wards into the community and receive an hour or two a week visits from a Community Mental health Team. It’s very likely that this will not be enough to prevent them from relapsing and then have to go back into the acute hospital wards.
2. They will have to stay on the acute hospital wards for a long time. This takes up expensive beds and prevents others from getting a bed and not getting the rehabilitation and recovery work they need
3. The Trust will have to pay for very expensive services from another organisation, often in the private sector, and a long way from the patients’ home.

20 years of experience has built a highly skilled staff team who have genuine care. Broomhill provides a family atmosphere. It works collaboratively with patients, their carers and their families and has an amazing record of enabling people to get their lives back. It is this concept which people embrace because they are accepted as individuals and not categorised.

It is well integrated and involved in and respected by the local community. It is also a contact point for local residents and authorities if there are any areas of concern within the community.

We are all very used to hearing the same mantra of the austerity agenda and ‘Cut backs are necessary’, but Broomhill is an amazing example of a service that shows excellent quality, medium term work prevents mental health relapse. Relapse is not just devastating for the patient but in the long term costs dearly and adds pressure to the NHS and other stretched public services.

Why break something up that works well and has helped so many patients and their carers?

Sign the petition now: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/save-broomhill-rehabilitation