VIEWPOINT FOR 14 FEBRUARY 2008
FROM DR RICHARD TAYLOR

I am writing this, because of deadline, before the public consultation meeting on 13 February about the proposed closure of Lea Castle Hospital. 
As I wrote last week, only a small part of the site remains under NHS ownership and use and this has become uneconomic because of the development of services for those with learning difficulties in their home areas out of Worcestershire.

Thus it is hard to see the consultation reaching any conclusion other than to close the Lea Castle service as it exists now and to re-provide it for Worcestershire residents in a financially viable situation. 
Our battle will then be to retain the service within Wyre Forest and the obvious place for this is on a smaller part of the Lea Castle site.

In reconfiguration of services the benefits to patients and users of a service are the first consideration. 
The benefits of the Lea Castle site are obvious - 

• lovely surroundings in a rural setting 

• with no need for planning consent which might be difficult and cause delays if necessitated by a move 

• proximity to the West Midlands because specialist outpatient, dental and EEG services are provided for their residents. 

But the strongest argument for the benefit of users relates to the staff. 

• Staff who care for these users, many of whom have difficult and complex needs, are highly skilled, dedicated and motivated people whose abilities are irreplaceable

• 154 members of a total staff of 168 (92%) live in DY 10-14 post code areas or to the north of Wyre Forest. 

• Most have long established home, work and family roots 

• and a move would be impractical or extremely difficult as the alternatives under consideration are existing NHS premises in Malvern or Redditch.

Thus our battle is to convince the Worcestershire Primary Care Trust (the commissioners of the service) and the Worcestershire Mental Health Partnership Trust (likely to be the providers) that the best option for all Worcestershire users of the service will be to remain on an appropriate part of the Lea Castle site. 
The other huge advantage of this plan will be ease and speed of implementation making it possible for the vulnerable users of the service to be almost unaffected by the change.

As a member of the Worcestershire Wild Life Trust I visited Upton Warren nature reserve last Monday evening. I witnessed one of nature's fabulous, free spectacles - swirling masses of hundreds of lapwings, wings flashing and glinting in the evening sunlight arriving for their night time roost. After circling the pool, with one accord, they landed, fluttering vigorously to cover most of a nearby field. A majestic flight of thirty curlews arrived and settled into their chosen spot. Then all the lapwings in the field took off only to be enlarged by the arrival of another immaculately coordinated flying circus. Eventually with ceaseless chattering most congregated in the safety of the pool. Heedless of the ordered chaos around, a Jack Snipe appeared secretly from dense reeds and a solitary sandpiper fed contentedly in the shallows. What a joy so close to home!

R.T.