A flurry of support is boosting an autism charity’s fight against the closure of a hospital for people with learning disabilities.
Treating Autism says its petition to save Calderstones Hospital, in Clitheroe, Lancashire, is attracting huge support.
Calderstones: Treating Autism wants the site to become a specialist centre for autism-related illnesses
The petition has more than 10,300 signatories (as of 19 January 2018).
Plan for specialist centre
The charity wants the NHS to convert Calderstones, officially known as Merseycare Whalley, into a specialist centre for autism-related illnesses.
These illnesses include conditions such as seizures, migraines and acid reflux or heartburn.
The centre is the only NHS learning disability hospital left in the country. It treats 140 or so medium to low-risk patients.
Hospital closure agenda
Under its transforming care agenda, NHS England wants to close hospitals for people with learning disabilities. It aims to treat such patients closer to home instead.
Moves to close these hospitals gathered momentum after a BBC Panorama documentary.
The programme exposed the shocking abuse of people with learning disabilities at specialist hospital Winterbourne View, on the outskirts of Bristol.
But Joanne Allman, a trustee with Treating Autism, explains its campaign is not about keeping people locked up in an outdated hospital.
Consultations with specialists
She said: “We’re looking for more of a specialist centre for people to go for consultations with specialists.
“They would go back home in their local community and the care would then be delivered by the GP under the supervision of the specialist.”
Merseycare NHS Foundation Trust runs Calderstones. It says it wants the site to remain open under a “new clinical model”.
This would involve a “community of small, bespoke inpatient facilities and crisis intervention”.
Autism Eye approached NHS England for a comment, but it did not respond.
You can visit the charity’s petition by clicking here.
You can visit its Facebook page by clicking here.
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Published: 19 January 2018
