Saturday saw local politicians, councillors and concerned residents unite to demand that Dumfries and Galloway Health Board reconsider their decision to close Darataigh Mental Health Unit in Stranraer.
Richard Arkless MP, Aileen McLeod MSP and Councillor Iain Dick were joined by around 100 local people at the family friendly rally which was held next to St John’s Castle in the centre of Stranraer.
The gathering took place to send a clear message to the Health Board – Stranraer cannot afford to loose the Darataigh unit and the vital services that it provides.
Darataigh closed suddenly in November 2015 following the failure of a boiler unit. The dementia patients who used the unit were transferred to Midpark Hospital in Dumfries, 72 miles away. Following a public outcry over the abrupt closure of the unit, the Health Board repaired the boiler and said that Darataigh would remain open but only for a further six months.
However since reopening none of the original patients have been returned or referred back to the unit and more and more intermediate care services are being made available at Midpark in Dumfries.
The Health Board is now undertaking a consultation on the future of mental health care provision in Stranraer and Wigtownshire. This will continue until the end of May when a final decision will be made.
MSP for South Scotland Aileen McLeod who spoke at Saturday’s rally said:
“We need more NHS services to be provided in Stranraer to save people the long trip to Dumfries and back. Everyone I’ve spoken to about the NHS in Stranraer over the past five years is clear about that – the Scottish Government is clear about that – services should be provided to people at home or in a homely setting. That means in Stranraer.”
“It is also clear that we need services for people with dementia living in Stranraer which we don’t currently have. We need emergency mental health cover and proper access to respite care.
“There is an opportunity here to extend the debate beyond the use of a single building and we must take it – people who live in the west of this vast constituency deserve better access to NHS services in general.
“I promise that between now and May I will do everything that I can to make those arguments on behalf of people in Stranraer and with their help and support we can make sure that people in Stranraer have access to the NHS services they need.”
Richard Arkless MP for Dumfries and Galloway, who also spoke at Saturday’s rally said that the closure of Darataigh is ‘incredibly shortsighted’ adding that Wigtownshire ‘needs’ an intermediate centre.
Mr Arkless went on to say:
“I hope that this rally sends out a clear and direct message to Dumfries and Galloway Health Board. People in Wigtownshire feel under siege with their NHS and we are sick of services that used to be performed here disappearing to the east. The community see this closure as yet another example. I also see the closure of Darataigh as part of a wider issue – it has to stop.”
He added:
“Darataigh is an intermediate centre designed to accept sufferers of dementia as they await their permanent place at a care home – or in the community. The Health Board believes that this intermediate step is bad for patients. However over Christmas patients from Wigtownshire were waiting in Dumfries for a local care home place when they could have been waiting much closer to their friends and family in Darataigh.
“I am certain Stranraer feels differently to the Health Board – I am certain the people of Stranraer want a centre for intermediate care that means you can be moved closer to home following assessment in Dumfries. I am clear that being closer to home will outweigh any damage an intermediate step could ever do to these patients.
“If used properly Darataigh could be utilised as an intermediate centre for a wide range of patients with varying mental health care needs. Ultimately, Darataigh remaining open would result in patients from Wigtownshire returning home much more quickly.”
Councillor Iain Dick said that it was ‘absolutely essential’ that adequate respite care, dementia care and mental health care is provided to people in Wigtownshire area given the huge distances involved when people are forced to travel to and from Dumfries. Mr Dick added that these are just “some of the issues that the decision to close Darataigh has thrown in stark relief.”
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