A mental health support group is shocked some of Merton's most vulnerable patients will be moved from a rehabilitation centre when it closes in September with a seven month gap until a new facility could be open.

Norfolk Lodge in Norfolk Road, Colliers Wood, cares for patients with long term mental illnesses who require further support following admission to South West London and St Georges Mental Health NHS Trust.

June: Fight to save mental health facility under threat two years after it was saved

May: Merton "behind the curve" in its provision of mental health services?

The lease for the step-down mental health hostel expires in September and can only be renewed for a minimum of five years, a Merton CCG meeting heard today.

Merton Clinical Commissioning Group (Merton CCG) is working with the Trust to find an improved service in the borough, which it hopes will be ready in April.

Patients currently using the service may have to move out of the borough until a new facility is up and running.

Merton and Sutton Rethink Mental Illness (MSRMI) an independent mental health support group, is fighting the plans which it says will leave a huge gap in help for people with illnesses including Schizophrenia and severe depression.

Speaking at a Merton CCG board meeting this morning, chief officer Adam Doyle said: "Norfolk Lodge will close because it is right that it does close.

"However, what's important is that we have a robust plan for future step-down services for both male and female residents within Merton.

"And what I have agreed with both the mental health trust and also our staff is that there will be a robust engagement with the public on the act of specification that we go out to market for."

But he said he could not guarantee patients would be relocated in Merton over the expected seven month gap before the new facility is opened.

He said: "If there is a quality provider in Merton that meets their need they will be provided for in Merton.

"However, sometimes people dealing with severe mental health problems have complicated care needs and sometimes the providers that we commission from locally have not got the skills."

The centre can care for up to 11 patients.

Speaking after the meeting, Laura Johnson, of MSRMI, said: "It's a shock because we were told that it was going to be January and so the extension to April is a long time and it means that those people who would have been admitted to Norfolk Lodge will probably have to be admitted out of the borough."

She said patients at Norfolk Lodge have complex needs and need 24-hour care.

The ward cares for patients on section 17 leave from a mental health ward at Springfield Hospital in Tooting, patients on community treatment orders and some voluntary patients.

Merton CCG board members and Rahat Ahmed-Man, head of assessment and commissioning at Merton Council, will be at a public consultation meeting about the future of Norfolk Lodge this evening.

The panel will meet at Vestry Hall in London Road, Mitcham at 5.30pm.

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