Eleventh hour intervention sees decision to close North Devon Link Centres called in for review

A dramatic twist in the battle to keep a mental health service in North Devon open has seen the decision to close it put under review just hours after it was made.

Devon County Council’s cabinet approved the closure of the North Devon Link Service, which provides mental health services to people in Barnstaple, Bideford and Ilfracombe at its meeting on Wednesday (March 13).

But just hours later, Councillor Sarah Randall-Johnson, who chairs the health and adult care scrutiny committee, called the decision in for review.

The move by Cllr Randall-Johnson could provide some hope to campaigners who had attended the meeting and displayed their disappointment by shouting ‘shame on you’ and ‘disgusting’ after the announcement the centres would shut.

While the health and adult care scrutiny committee doesn’t have the power to overturn the cabinet’s decision, it can make recommendations to it.

However, Cllr Randall-Johnson said it important not to pre-judge any outcome. “It’s a balancing act,” she explained.

“This is a check that our scrutiny committee is doing against a cabinet decision and we will be making recommendations, or agreeing with the decision, or suggesting something back to them.”

The council says it has been working with the NHS and the Devon Mental Health Alliance to ensure replacement services would be available, and that Link Service users would be supported to access for at least three months.

Cllr Randall-Johnson’s committee will look at the decision at its meeting next week, on Wednesday, March 21.

She continued: “My rationale is very simple. I want to know what the new service will look like and how people will receive it.”

“We will quiz officers ourselves to understand the rationale, as we did not have the opportunity to do that before the decision was made.

“The committee will look at and explore how it can be ensured that those people in North Devon who receive a service now will continue to do so.”

The cabinet made its decision partly on the basis that alternative services would be available for North Devon Link Service users.

However, campaigners noted that one of these services, the Mental Health Alliance, did not have the funding or the capacity to provide alternative services to people potentially impacted.

Terry Elliott, who is an Ilfracombe Town councillor and has campaigned for around two-and-a-half years to keep the centres open, is uncertain about what impact the decision to call in the closure would make.

“I don’t see what it’s going to achieve,” she said.

“When Councillor James McInnes spoke to the press, it seemed like a done deal.

“It was so frustrating as we had no opportunity to counter what was said [at cabinet], but the crux is they cannot propose to close the Link Service without having an alternative that meets the needs of the people who use it.”

Cllr Elliott added that if Devon does close the service, it needs to identify what it offers service users, how it meets their needs, and set out any service that meets that need and can meet it.

“And if that doesn’t exist, then someone, somewhere, needs to create the service,” she added.

“The most important part of the Link Service, which was the only part retained post-covid, was the drop-in service, which enables people to come in and speak one-to-one with skilled, experienced staff who know them and provide help around accessing other services or dealing with other problems they are having, as well as enabling peer-to-peer support.”

At the cabinet meeting, Ilfracombe County Councillor Paul Crabb pleaded for cabinet members to think again before making a decision, but he wasn’t able to persuade them to keep the service open.

He said while the reports prepared for councillors were wide-ranging, they overlooked two key points. “

Firstly, the description of the existing service as an ancient anachronism may be something of a disservice,” he said.

“In a series of moving testimonies from the user group, the head of service and cabinet member were treated to emotionally moving witness statements of how the Link Centre at Ilfracombe had outperformed its remit at no additional cost.”