May 11, 2023 8.00 am This story is over 15 months old

Hartsholme mental health ward to reopen next year

Staffing pressures and rising workload led to the closure
The Hartsholme Centre in Lincoln closed over staffing concerns across Lincolnshire's mental health sector. | Photo: LPFT

Hartsholme Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) is expected to fully reopen by March 2024, provided the trust can find enough staff to run it safely.

Lincolnshire County Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee will review the plans for a phased reopening of the ward next week.

The PICU was shut down last October due to ongoing significant staffing pressures.

Reports at the time said mental health staff had been “burnt out” by rising workloads and increasingly complex cases, sometimes with aggressive patients.

Although the trust has seen an increase in staff and reduction in turnover and sickness, it is still not confident of safely reopening the PICU in its current state.

Refurbishment works are expected to be completed by June, followed by the reopening of four beds in November, with the aim of fully reopening the unit by March next year.

A report ahead of next week’s meeting noted that two patients had been inappropriately placed in out-of-area PICU beds since the closure, but there had been a noticeable decrease in complaints, incidents, and negative feedback.

The report added: “To return redeployed PICU staff back to open the Hartsholme Centre at present would destabilize the division and leave several teams vulnerable and unable to safely staff clinical areas.

Services would become compromised, patient and staff safety negatively impacted. There would also be an increased risk of staff burnout, and a rise in both short and long-term sickness would potentially occur.”

“The Trust remains committed to providing a male PICU service in Lincolnshire and following the engagement with staff, patients, and stakeholders, is also now exploring the options available to extend this scope to include a female provision in the future,” the report stated.

Feedback received by the trust suggested positive responses with some staff reporting “a sense of relief that action was being taken”.

However patients, carers and member of the public had raised concerns around the number of out of area PICU placements.

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