Council refers NHS body to government over 'cuts'

Nottingham’s Centre for Trauma, Resilience and Growth helped people living with traumatic stress

An NHS body has been reported to the government over claims it cut mental health services without warning.

Nottingham’s Centre for Trauma, Resilience and Growth, which operated out of the Mandala Centre in Gregory Boulevard, helped people living with traumatic stress.

During a full council meeting, Labour councillor Georgia Power, chair of the city council's health scrutiny committee, said she will refer the matter to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The centre was run by Nottinghamshire Healthcare Foundation Trust, but commissioned by the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), which denies services have significantly changed.

'Not meeting demand'

Councillor Power said: “Based on evidence I have received from former staff at the centre, and former patients, I do believe it is a substantial variation in service on the basis that some of those services which were provided are no longer accessible in Nottingham."

If substantial variations in NHS services are to be made, the ICB has to alert the health scrutiny committee.

Ms Power said she met the ICB on Monday, which was "unhelpful".

“The trauma centre is so important to Nottingham.

"It is the only specialised mental health trauma centre in the Midlands, and I and the committee do not believe current trauma services are meeting need and demand."

The referral process potentially allows the health secretary to override any decision made by an NHS commissioning body.

A spokeswoman for the ICB said it noted the referral, and added services for people suffering from trauma were "available through a variety of routes".

"We don’t believe that there is a significant overall change to services available across the system," she added.