Mental health
NHS Somerset reviewed acute mental health services in Somerset.
On the 24 September 2020, the Governing Body of Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) approved a proposal to relocate adult mental health beds from Wells to Yeovil. On these pages you can find out more about the changes and the process we went through to make a decision.
Read the mental health consultation findings report.
Find out more about the decision made.
You can read more on our current mental health services work on the NHS Somerset mental health pages.
Our vision for mental health services
Working with several mental health charities and medical professionals we have designed a new mental health service model to support people better in the early stages of their illness or condition. Wherever we can, we want to help people stay well, and get treatment as early as possible when they need it.
A new mental health model of care
Two key benefits of our new model are to help people earlier on so they won’t need to be admitted to an acute ward and, when they are admitted, to provide stronger support after discharge.
What changes were considered?
Read more about the changes considered for changing the location of the acute mental health ward at Wells for people aged between 18-65 years and moving it to Yeovil.
Is this about saving money or closing beds?
No. These changes will not mean any fewer mental health beds in Somerset and they are not intended to save money. They are about using our money and staff in better ways, to make a better, safer service.
24th September 2020
The Governing Body of Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group approved a proposal to relocate adult mental health beds from Wells to Yeovil.
3 September 2020
Following the conclusion of our public consultation on the proposed relocation of adult in-patient mental health beds from Wells to Yeovil on 12 April 2020, Participate Ltd undertook an independent analysis of all the feedback received.
The report can be downloaded here: Mental Health Consultation Report.
Our original intention was to share the independent analysis of all the feedback received during the consultation at a public event in Wells. Given the current Government guidelines on face to face gatherings, we are unable to do this face to face.
We arranged a virtual feedback sharing event for 7pm on Wednesday 02 September via MS Teams Live Events.
The event was hosted by David Heath, Non-Executive Director, and Dr Peter Bagshaw (GP and clinical lead for mental health, autism and learning disability services) and Andrew Keefe (deputy director for mental health, autism and learning disability commissioning) presented the independent analysis of the consultation feedback. You can watch the event here:
Consultation documents (January 2020). The information below is for reference only.
