NHS trust confirms plans to suspend dementia services temporarily in Sussex

Earlier this month, Sussex World was told by a trusted source that dementia-assessment services would not be provided by The Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust from January to March 2024 because of a ‘financial deficit’.

The Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust has now confirmed these reports.

A spokesperson said: “The NHS across Sussex has been working hard to put plans in place that will allow services to remain safe and ensure local people can continue to access the best possible care as quickly as possible over the busy winter period.

“These plans focus on the national NHS priorities set out ahead of Christmas and New year period to protect patient safety, prioritise urgent and emergency care and achieve financial balance.

“In order to achieve these plans, it is necessary for some services to be temporarily changed or reduced, to allow staff to be redeployed to other services so they can continue to be safe and of the highest quality. There's also a need to reduce the use of agency staff in order to manage resources effectively.”

In line with this work, the trust has ‘reviewed all of its services to identify areas where we are able to redeploy staff as quickly as possible’.

The spokesperson added:" As such, we have made the difficult decision to temporarily reduce the Memory Assessment and Dementia Services provided in West Sussex and in High Weald, Lewes and Havens in East Sussex, from January 2024 until end March 2024.

“In addition we are also planning to reduce the number of dementia beds we currently provide in Sussex from 50 to 40.”

The trust reassured that it ‘will continue to see patients’ who have already started their treatment and assessment programme and ‘we will remain open to referrals’.

"During the period of temporary redeployment, we will not be able to see new patients and support them as soon as we would like,” a spokesperson added.

"We are contacting patients, their families and carers if an initial appointment needs to be rescheduled. If you do not hear from us, please continue to attend your appointment as planned.

"We are working to enable patients who are ready for discharge to be able to leave safely and we will be supporting those who continue to need a bed, along with their families and carers, to find the most appropriate alternative care.

"We appreciate how important both these services are to the people who use them; their families and carers, and we have explored all other options to allow us to temporarily redeploy staff before taking these very difficult decisions.

“We are currently working through detailed arrangements with our staff and will be communicating with people who use these services to let them know more detailed information about the planned changes.”

The trust provides mental health, learning disability and neurodevelopmental services to people living in south east England. Its services are for children, young people, adults of working age and older people. The trust provides care in a range of locations including people’s own homes, specialist clinics, hospitals, low and-medium secure units and GP surgeries.

The trust provides care at facilities across Sussex – Highdown in Worthing; Swandean in Worthing; Chapel Street in Chichester; the Bedale Centre in Bognor; Pepperville House in Littlehampton; Crawley Hospital; New Park House in Horsham; Linwood in Haywards Heath and Uckfield Hospital.

Now, Sussex-based independent charity Dementia Support – which operates Sage House in Tangmere – is launching an ‘appeal to increase its services’.

“The urgent appeal is to fund new free of charge advice and support sessions, both over the phone and face to face, to meet the anticipated demand,” a spokesperson for Dementia Support said.

"Anyone who is worried they may have dementia or is concerned about a loved one can use the service; a diagnosis or a referral from a health professional is not needed.”

The charity already supports more than 2,500 local people and it ‘plans to develop and set up extra programmes’ to support people ‘covering important issues that are often a worry’ – including legal matters such as Powers of Attorney, Benefits, emotional support, and wellbeing. Information packs are also being distributed to GP surgeries to signpost patients to the charity’s services.

The charity’s CEO Sally Tabbner said: “Waiting for a dementia diagnosis can be agonising for families, as they look to the future with fear and uncertainty. We are asking people to help ensure families waiting for a diagnosis are not left without support.

"We will do absolutely everything we can to fill the gap left by the closing of the NHS diagnosis services, including expanding services to meet the growing need. But as a local charity we can only do so with support.

"We know this is a difficult time of year to be asking for donations and we’re immensely grateful to those who give to our regular appeals, which mean we can support our current customers and their families when they need it most.

"However, the sudden and unexpected closure of the dementia assessment service will leave many people in limbo; we know we can help, we want to help but being a young charity means we do not have the reserves in the bank to call on to respond to the unpredicted surge we are going to see.

"Please help and visit dementiasupport.org.uk/urgent-appeal to give what you can to support local people waiting for a dementia diagnosis.”

Dementia Support said if you or a loved one is affected by dementia, or are awaiting an assessment, you can contact the Sage House Wayfinding team at: dementiasupport.org.uk/wayfinding or call 01243 888691

A spokesperson added: “Dementia Support Wayfinding service allows everyone to talk to a professional for essential one-to-one support and advice. Available on the phone, face to face at Sage House, or at the Charity’s community outreach session, a familiar and friendly face will be available to support people living with dementia, their families, friends and carers.

“The Wayfinder will stay with you from pre-diagnosis (when you notice dementia symptoms) and will be your named contact throughout your journey and all the dementia stages.”