Information on Henderson Hospital and the Public Consultation Into Tier 4 Residential Services for Personality Disorder

The Henderson Hospital is a residential Therapeutic Community and Outreach service offering treatment to up to 29 people aged between18-60 who have been diagnosed with personality disorder. It has just celebrated its 60th year.

In December 2007 South West London & St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust announced their intention to close Henderson Hospital, pending the need for a public consultation.

This decision was made because responsibility for commissioning this service was passed from the National Specialised Commissioning Group to local Primary Care Trusts. This left South West London and St. George’s Trust in financial uncertainty. The Henderson Hospital was temporarily closed in 2008.

As a result of the temporary closure of The Henderson Hospital, a public consultation is to be held. The consultation will ask about the best model of support for people given a diagnosis of personality disorder currently supported by residential (also called Tier 4) services.

It is expected that the consultation process will start In March 2009 and finish between October and December 2009. The South East Coast Specialised Commissioning Group (SECSCG) is facilitating the consultation and it will be overseen by a Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The consultation will involve the 4 regions who were part of the commissioning consortium for the Henderson: London, Eastern, South East and South Central and is being facilitated on behalf of 62 Primary Care Trusts.

This is a public consultation so please do look out for ways to have your say.

Details about the consultation will be available online at www.westkentpct.nhs.uk.  The consultation plans to begin in March 2009.

There will be several ways that people can share their views:

  • Reading a consultation summary document and providing feedback online
  • Providing feedback using a post free address
  • Attending a discussion group for existing and past service users, family members and staff

The overall aim of the consultation is to hear people’s views so these can help shape agreements for the future of residential or Tier 4 services for people given a diagnosis of personality disorder. Other pieces of work will also feed into these decisions. For example a needs assessment for Tier 4 residential services is also being done and a report on strengthening commissioning of residential services for people given a diagnosis of personality disorder has been produced by a group led by Adrian Pollitt, Director of National Commissioning.

The outcome of the consultation will be published on the NHS West Kent website www.westkentpct.nhs.uk and in press releases in late Autumn 2009.