HEALTH campaigners protested outside Clacton Hospital to call for the town’s mental health ward to be saved.

North Essex Partnership Trust plans to transfer the Peter Bruff ward to the King’s Wood Centre, in Turner Road, Colchester, by July.

More than 20 patients, health campaigners and councillors, including trust governor Andy Wood, called for the decision to be reversed – at least until a consultation is held. The campaigners are angry the decision to transfer the ward was made without consultation.

The move comes nine years after the community successfully fought plans to close the ward.

Clacton MP Douglas Carswell, who was also at the protest on Friday, said: “So many people here know someone who has had to depend on the Peter Bruff ward at some point in their life.

“I have written to Health Secretary JeremyHunt and the board who made the decision.

We need to make the case that Clacton needs Peter Bruff. It is a campaign we can win.

“Every time there is a cut, we get the worse deal. They always want to relocate services to Colchester. The way the decision was taken was outrageous.”

Tom Wood, 47, who runs a self-help group at Clacton’s Brotherhood Hall, said: “A lot of people with mental health issues also have financial issues and will not have the means to get to Colchester.

“Clacton has a large population of people with mental health issues and we need this ward here.

“It was great so many people turned out to voice their opposition – it’s so important to keep services here.”

Mr Wood has also launched a petition calling on the trust to reverse the decision.

The trust said there was no requirement for it to hold a consultation because the ward was not closing, but transferring to Colchester.

The petition can be found at https://you.38degrees.org.uk /petitions/keep-peter-bruffward- open-in-clacton

NORTH Essex Partnership Trust said it was impossible to improve the Peter Bruff building to meet safety standards.

The Care Quality Commission recently rated the trust “inadequate” for safety in its wards, sighting ligature risks, poor sight lines and failure to conform to the single sex.

The Peter Bruff ward was criticised in some of these areas. The trust has launched a £1.6million investment plan to improve wards, but said it was not able to do the work needed in Peter Bruff as it did not own the building.

Instead, the trust will refurbish the vacant McIntyre Ward at the Landemere
Centre, in Clacton, to become the new Bernard Ward (for male dementia patients), which is at the King’s Wood Centre, in Colchester. This will centralise dementia care, bringing the male ward into the same centre as the current female ward (Tower Ward).

The space released at the King’s Wood Centre will be refurbished and will become the new Peter Bruff Ward (for adult, acute, mental health patients), alongside the similar Henneage Ward. It said the McIntyre Ward was not big
enough to accommodate the 17-bed Peter Bruff ward.

Toni Scales, the trust’s area director, said: “Patient safety is our top priority and this includes the environment in which we provide our services.

“The relocation of Bernard & Peter Bruff wards will give us the opportunity to upgrade both environments to high standard and improve therapeutic services to patients.

“We are involving staff, patients and carers in planning how services will look moving forward.”