TO:
Blackburn with Darwen health & Social Care
Overview & Scrutiny Committee
FROM: Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust
DATE:
19TH January 2009
MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS
NEW IN-PATIENT SITE SECTION
UPDATE REPORT
1.
PURPOSE
To update members on the re-provision of in-patient mental health
services following the notification of site selection within East
Lancashire
2.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Members are asked to note the content of the report.
3.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Members will recall being in receipt of the report for the December
meeting outlining the site selection criteria and details of the public
engagement session.
Members should also have received a copy of the letter sent (19 th
December 2008) detailing the Trusts Board decision to have
Hepworths Site, Pollards Moorworks, Hapton, BB12 7JR as their
preferred site.
4.
PREFERRED SITE DECISION
As discussed in the December report to OSC Trust Board consider the
views expressed at the public engagement meeting, the views of
commissioners and the Foundation Trust Governors. They also
considered any letters and petitions received by the Trust.
Board recommendations were prepared by the Capital Investment
Project board and the executive summary was as follows:
From a long list of twenty-one sites, five were considered as meeting
all mandatory criteria and were tested against the criteria derived from
the public engagement in June 07. From the data gathered and the
analysis ………….. the following is concluded:
Good public transport/accessibility was consistently the highest rated
criteria at the public meeting on the 8 th November 2008 for the
inpatient site in East Lancashire. Based on the criteria applied E3
Hepworths, Burnley appears to be the preferred site. It also performs
well in terms of potential to manage abnormals, potential for planning
permission and estimated affordability. There is strong support from the
public, East Lancs PCT and Burnley Borough Council to explore the
possibility of gaining planning permission for this site. A planning
application has been submitted for a new road bridge linking this site to
Junction 9 of the M65 by the developer’s, which will also significantly
improve access times.
Summary Of Recommendations
The Capital and Investment Programme Board have considered the
option appraisal and recommend that the Trust Board:
1. Approve E3 Hepworths, Burnley as the preferred site for East
Lancashire.
2. Agree that the Trust will explore with the property developer for
the Hepworths site securing the most advantageous position on
the site for the Trust’s inpatient development.
3. Agree to secure the option to purchase on E3 Hepworths site,
Burnley subject to further investigation into abnormals and other
relevant consents.
4. That the second choice, E1 Evolution Park is not considered
appropriate given the reduced size now available and is
therefore excluded for any further consideration. Also the 3rd
choice of sites E4 Ex AIT is retained for consideration, in the
event it is not possible to secure the site of preferred choice,
given it also scores highly on public accessibility via public
transport.
5. The sites that are not preferred, are formally excluded from any
further consideration:
 E2 Roman Road, Blackburn
 E5 Gib Hill, Nelson
 E1 Evolution Park (subject to agreement of
recommendation 4)
5.
VIEWS EXPRESSED AT PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
As detailed in the December report 70 people attended the
engagement session on 8th November. Attendees were invited to
identify themselves as members, service users, carers or staff if they
wished but were not asked where they lived. The majority opted to use
email addresses as their contacts for feedback on the result.
Initially voters were asked to rank which criteria, was most important to
them. These were ranked as follows with the percentages indicating
the weightings, which were ultimately applied to the scorings:
1.
2.
3.
4.
4.
5.
6.
Good public transport
Site with enough outdoor space
Accessibility to other NHS services
Not in a high crime area
(Joint 4th)
Accessibility to local services (Joint 4th)
Space and flexibility for future expansion
Travel distance to other LCT services
27.98%
15.54%
14.51%
12.44%
12.44%
11.40%
5.7%
Voters were then asked to consider the criteria in relation to each sites
based on their local knowledge, preferences and the information from
the presentations, displays and questions.
The combined voting identified the ranking for the sites as preferred
options as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
E3 Hepworths, Burnley
E1 Evolution Park, Blackburn
E4 Ex AIT Building, Burnley
E2 Roman Road, Blackburn
E5 Gib Hill, Nelson
PUBLICITY POST DECISION MAKING
Immediately following the Trust Board decision letters were sent to
Leader of each Unitary, Borough and County Council, the Chairs of the
OSCs. Leaders and Chairs were asked to cascade this information to
other councillors.
Contact was also made electronically with
Democratic Services asking them to copy the letters to each
Councillor.
Letters (hard or electronic) were sent to the attendees of the public
meeting informing them of the decision and that a local residents
meeting was being planned for January. Letters have also been sent
to local MPs.
Members of the Lancashire Mental Health and Social Care
Partnership, including each of the Lancashire PCTs who undertook the
initial consultation, were informed of the decision at their meeting on
19th December.
Staff working for LCFT were informed of the decision in an internal
weekly e-bulletin and Foundation Trust members will be informed
through the next edition of the members’ newsletter.
A joint media release from LCFT, Burnley Borough Council, NHS East
Lancashire and NHS Blackburn with Darwen was sent to each of the
local papers and radio on Friday 19th December.
7.
NEXT STAGES
The Trust will be inviting members of the local community, living in
close proximity to the site, to a public meeting. The aim of this meeting
will be to establish an on going relationship with local residents to
keep them actively involved through out the process.
Depending on the views of those attending the meeting it is anticipated
there will be a mixture of regular small meetings with community
representatives supplemented with large general invite meetings at key
stages during the process. These key stages are likely to be;

once the actual positioning on site is confirmed,

once the first draft of the external design is available,

prior to an application for planning consent

and prior to any construction work.
This process is being repeated in the 3 other areas of Lancashire
where re-provision is planned.
This first stage of this process will be the delivery of a Q & A sheet
answering the questions most commonly of interest to every residence
in the proximity which will also detail the meeting arrangements.
8.
PROGRESS IN OTHER AREAS OF LANCASHIRE
Central Lancashire
The further geotechnics work required at Ribbleton Hospital and on the
adjacent land required for purchase has been completed.
Once
County Council approval of the sale was received legal representatives
from both parties commenced work to complete the necessary
searches etc prior to finalizing the sale of the land with contracts
exchanged in December with completion planned for the end of
January 2009.
Further meetings with NHS Central Lancs are planned to clarify how to
best meet the needs of the service users and carers in West
Lancashire.
Fylde Coast
The process of securing the site at Whyndyke Farm is progressing with
detailed discussions with the owner and with Blackpool Council’s
Highways Department. Further geotechnical investigations have been
completed and the Trust should be able to clearly define the land
purchased (in a red line plan) by the end of January 2009.
As previously agreed with local residents, once the exact site is clear
then further local meetings will take place to engage and involve those
living in close proximity. This will be part of a planned ongoing process
that will only conclude on the opening of the unit.
North Lancashire (Lancaster)
The Trust have received written confirmation from NHS North
Lancashire that they will retain the land, known as Royal Albert Fields,
until such time as LCFT has had the opportunity to discuss with all the
PCTs the sequencing of the developments and are ready to proceed in
Lancaster. Further meetings are planned for January 2009.
9.
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAMES FOR DEVELOPMENT
The technical team of architects, designers and engineers has been
appointed and, as previously stated, progress on securing sites has
been made in 3 of the localities with this process now commencing in
East Lancashire.
At this stage it seems likely that the Fylde Coast site at Whyndyke
Farm will be the first site where the Trust is ready to submit planning
permission. It is anticipated that will be submitted in 2009 and, subject
to approval being received, construction commence in 2010.
CONTACT OFFICER:
DATE:
BACKGROUND PAPER:
Shirley Saunders, Senior Responsible Officer &
Deputy Chief Executive and
Dave Tomlinson Director of Finance
6th January 2009
December OSC report