Council Thanks Dementia Support Staff After West Sussex Assessment Service Paused

Staff at a dementia support centre are owed ‘an enormous debt of thanks and gratitude’ for stepping up after NHS assessment services were suspended, councillors have been told.

James Vivian (Lib Dem, Chichester Central) heaped praise on the team from Sage House during a meeting of the district council.

Mr Vivian tabled a notice of motion following the decision by the Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust’s to close its assessment service to new patients between January and April.

The motion, which was roundly approved, described the closure, however temporary, as ‘unacceptable’ and said the council would be opposed to any future ‘suspension or closure of the service’.

Leader Adrian Moss agreed to write to Gillian Keegan and Andrew Griffith, MPs for Chichester and Arundel & South Downs respectively, as well as the Department of Health, urging them to ensure that funding for the Sussex Dementia Assessment service remained in place and the future of the service be guaranteed.

A number of councillors described their own experiences caring for parents with dementia.

Mr Vivian said:

“Instead of a rapid decline in someone’s mental state, dementia can be a gentle drip-drip-drip of decline over several years.

“And it is a long road to diagnosis. Data shows that it can take four months from referral to diagnosis, with some waiting nearly two years to see a specialist.

“Long wait times work for a struggling healthcare system, but leave families and patients in the middle of a very long tightrope.

“And that is why early assessment is such a godsend for families. Having a fixed, firm diagnosis can be a relief, even if the condition being diagnosed can mean years of ongoing care.”

The motion also thanked the team at Sage House, Tangmere, for their work in plugging the service gap.

Tracie Bangert, cabinet member for communities & well-being, was asked to lobby the West Sussex Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee on the issue.

She said:

“As a district with an ageing population, it is imperative that these services are available for our residents who require assessment around dementia.

“It is also essential that their families have the reassurance that they will have access to the right support should they need it.

“We cannot under-estimate the impact the closure of the NHS dementia assessment service will have on residents in our district and beyond.

“As cabinet member for communities, I urge all councillors to encourage the promotion of incentives to create dementia-friendly communities as have been successfully implemented in Selsey and parts of Hampshire.”

Roy Briscoe (Con, Westbourne) added:

“Any of us that have experienced a family member that’s got dementia will know how it can destroy families.

“We only have a limited influence. We will do everything we can to try to keep those services that we desperately need.

“We can lobby and I hope that’s listened to.”

Thanking his colleagues for their support, Mr Vivian said:

“This is not a proud moment for our local services.

“Our residents are rightly asking where government is and what is it doing in Chichester.

“We are told that this closure is temporary.

“But, when asked, the Trust could not give assurances about the future of the service.

“I, for one, am tired of the cut-cut-cutting of services locally and nationally.

“Previously it was railway ticket offices. Now it is dementia assessment services.

“It is time for us to ask, what is next on the chopping block?”

When asked about the future of the service, a spokesman for the Trust said:

“From April 1 we are resuming our memory assessment services fully.

“The service was temporarily reduced in January. While we continued to see patients who had started their treatment programme, from April 1, we will resume seeing people who have been referred for a new memory assessment.”