Public's say on Stanhope presented to health chiefs
HEALTH chiefs have formally acknowledged receipt of the Mail’s petition calling on them to scrap their proposal to close the Margaret Stanhope Centre.
Alex Fox, chairman of the Staffordshire Cluster of Primary Care Trusts (PCT), provided confirmation in a letter to the paper’s editor, Kevin Booth.
“I write to acknowledge receipt of the petition,” said the chairman, also the former Tory leader of East Staffordshire Borough Council.
“This will be treated as part of the consultation process as per the question you have used for your petition.”
Signatories of the Mail’s Save Our Stanhope (SOS) petition said they ‘believed strongly in the future of the Margaret Stanhope’.
“We believe it is essential to have mental health beds in Burton and call upon South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust and South Staffordshire and Shropshire NHS Foundation Trust to guarantee the viable future of the Margaret Stanhope,” they said.
Mr Fox said the petition would be submitted as part of a report to the trust board in March.
Mail editor Kevin Booth said while he was glad health chiefs had accepted the petition, he hoped they would heed its message and keep the service’s inpatient psychiatric beds in Burton.
“Although health chiefs’ proposals would affect South Staffordshire as a whole, their principal impact would be on Burton, which has rejected them out of hand.
“If the trust means what it says about allowing patients to shape the services it provides, it must bow to the public’s will and keep mental health beds in Burton.” Mr Fox’s acknowledgement came as the timetable for determining the Margaret Stanhope’s future became clear.
The PCT, which commissions the service, intends to discuss the unit’s future at an open meeting scheduled to be held at 1pm on March 28 in Stafford.
During the session, board members will consider Staffordshire LINk’s report Public’s say on Stanhope presented tohealth chiefs detailing feedback from the four-month public consultation on health chiefs’ plans.
Andrew Donald, the PCT’s director of commissioning development, will present the findings in a report which will also encompass the Mail’s petition and the outcome of the trust’s investigation into the Friends of Margaret Stanhope’s suggestion to move the unit’s service into Burton’s Queen’s Hospital.
The five chairmen of the area’s emerging clinical commissioning groups, set to play a major role in the NHS under the Government’s controversial healthcare reforms, are also expected to provide feedback.
It is thought the foundation trust, which provides the service, will reach its own view on the Margaret Stanhope after the PCT considers Mr Donald’s report on March 28.
