Drug rehabilitation and psychological therapy services may remain splintered after Kingston Council “botched” a public consultation into moving treatments to Surbiton.

More than 1,000 residents signed a petition against moving rehabilitation services from Surbiton Health Centre to Hollyfield House, in Hollyfield Road.

Kingston Conservatives admitted the consultation had been "inadequate" and Councillor Julie Pickering, lead member for health, said the council’s current processes were "no longer fit for purpose".

Staff are shared between the Kingston Wellbeing Service and therapy for people with mild to moderate anxiety or depression [improving access to psychology therapies, or IAPT] – and doctors want to house them together.

Dr Phil Moore, deputy chairman of Kingston clinical commissioning group (CCG), confirmed the move of IAPT to Hollyfield House and said it was planned about six months ago, for space reasons.

He said: "It’s about clinical preference. It’s mainly a staffing overlap. It looks like the public outcry might make [uniting the services] impossible."

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A CCG spokeswoman said: "We rarely have more than three to five people in the waiting room at any one time, other than for courses. 

"As each client goes in for their appointment, another will have just left.

"An informed guess would suggest there are rarely more than six to 14 people at the base at any one time unless there is a course, when they will be there for only an hour or two.

"It is extremely rare for people to wait around after their appointments."

Opposition leader Liz Green said the council's engagement process had been "botched".

Asked if the best clinical arrangement for staff may have been scuppered by the consultation, Coun Pickering simply said: "Yes."

But council leader Kevin Davis said: "This whole thing where the CCG moves one half of the service and we move the other half is somewhat of a nonsense.

"There may be an opportunity for them to have to follow us."

Councillors have been told Surbiton Health Centre does not have enough space to house all wellbeing services.

Splitting the teams has affected capacity and efficiency, council officers said.

Your Local Guardian:

Kingston Wellbeing Service is currently housed at Surbiton Health Centre

Coun Davis also moved to counter speculation about a council order he signed in July. The "standing order 32" authorised council officers to begin consultation on moving the wellbeing service.

Coun Davis said: "There was no question about it being a done deal."

Kingston Wellbeing Service (KWS) and psychological therapies (IAPT) were originally commissioned by the NHS as a single service.

But, in April 2013, public health control was handed to local authorities and Kingston Council took over KWS.

It has been run from Surbiton Health Centre since then, while IAPT, run by GPs in Kingston’s clinical commissioning group, is based in Acre Road, Kingston.