FRI
8°
SAT 11°
SUN 11°
7°
8°
8°
E FR
E
Br ighton & Hove
Independent
Friday, March 27 2015
www.brightonandhoveindependent.co.uk
Our city's best-read newspaper
MOVE OVER, BORIS!
MIND THE GAP
>> PAGES 24
>> PAGE 3
Brighton bikes are coming thanks to a £1 million grant. Hundreds of cycles will be ready for hire from dozens of points around the city from next summer
Poorer children and those in care lag too far behind youngsters from middle class homes. Politicians are putting pressure on local schools to improve their GCSE performance
WIN TICKETS TO SEE MCBUSTED IN BRIGHTON PAGE 28
CRACKING UP
Head bows out
Strains showing after cut in the number of mental health beds Frank le Duc @BHcitynews
Mental health services are under pressure in Brighton and Hove after a cut in the number of local beds. A report this week said that more patients were being sent out of the area and a local private hospital was able to treat just a fraction of those who were being referred to it. Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust, the mental health trust for the area, told councillors that 55 patients had been referred to the Priory, in Hove, but only eight were admitted. A report said: “On most occasions referrals to the Priory were declined on grounds
MERIDIAN SOUTH EAST
of risk and acuity.” The private hospital does not have a psychiatric intensive care unit. And many of the patients needing beds had “additional complexities around risk, dual diagnosis with substance misuse issues, forensic histories, failed accommodation and tenancies, all of which impact on length of stay”. The report also said: “While the Hove Priory has been able to provide some additional local capacity it has not had the effect of preventing all out of area admissions. This is largely due to other system pressures for mental health beds including the demand at the Hove Priory by private patients as well as demand for beds from other NHS
trusts across the south east.” The report, to the council’s Health and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee, said: “The number of residents admitted to a bed outside the city in any week has ranged from zero to fourteen. In the last year, since April 1 2014, a total of 1,513 bed days have been within the private or independent sector.” Money saved from reducing the number of beds in Hove is earmarked for more community care. But there have been delays in recruiting suitable staff. Two nurses intended to speed up the discharge of patients from hospital have not started work yet. The report said they were needed as many patients were previously unknown to the trust.
Hove Park School head Derek Trimmer, pictured with wife Nicky, said goodbye this week. Mr Trimmer, who is going to a new job in Kent, heaped praise on pupils at the school’s annual prizegiving. Over four years the school has become one of the most improved in the country. Mr Trimmer said: “These four years have been very special. I will look back on these as the golden years. I have shaped a team that will make a huge difference. This year when the results come through ... I’ll be there to celebrate them with you. But it’s not the end. It’s just another stage in the journey. Thank you to the parents, the staff and most of all the students for being Hove Park School.”
01273 611619
www.meridiansoutheast.co.uk meridiansoutheeat@talktalkbusiness.net
SUPPLIERS & INSTALLERS OF QUALITY Upvc & ALUMINIUM WINDOWS, DOORS & CONSERVATORIES þEST
1994
þInsurance guarantees þPlainitherm þSliding
Sash Windows
glass
þA+ energy rated windows available þComposite doors members of
VERY COMPETITIVE PRICES
Unit 3, E-plan Estate, New Road, Newhaven, East Sussex, BN9 0ET B&H Independent - 175x64 ST.indd 1
25/03/2015 11:58