CCG expected to rule on closure of mental health unit

South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare Foundation Trust wants to shut and sell the Castle Lodge facility in Telford, in part because sections have become underused, but also because of difficulties in supporting an increasing number of service users with complex conditions.

A final decision will be made in March following analysis of a public consultation which finished earlier this month. The 12-bed inpatient section of the facility has not been operational for more than a year.

Trust director of business and commercial development Steve Grange said in board papers: “The final stage will be a formal paper of recommendations to our February board meeting, then the paper [will be] presented to the local health overview and scrutiny committee and [Telford and Wrekin] CCG to make a final decision in early March.”