Health bosses sorry after Luton mental health service cut without consultation with council

The underused crisis cafe mental health provision for Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Luton has been replaced by a recovery lounge service.

A new system has been operating since December 1 with one location in Bedfordshire each evening, instead of the three crisis cafes available since 2020, Luton Borough Council’s scrutiny health and social care review group was told.

East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) and Mind BLMK were unable to improve the uptake of the countywide crisis cafe offer, according to a report to the review group.

A review assessing whether the service was meeting the local community’s changing needs and delivering effective use of NHS resources led to the change, said the report.

“The Bedfordshire and Luton recovery lounge service continues to offer a safe and supportive space for people to come and receive out-of-hours support in person.

“Feedback from communities suggested the previous name was misleading and users often considered it a barrier for access. The name change was included as part of the review.

“Free urgent mental health help and advice for anyone over the age of 18 was provided at the crisis cafes, which opened from 5pm to 11pm daily in each local authority area.

“They were run by Mind support workers trained to offer coping mechanisms and management techniques to help anyone work through their mental health crisis.”

Bedford’s offer was based at Florence Ball House in Kimbolton Road, Luton’s was available in Dumfries Street, while for Central Bedfordshire it rotated between Townsend Court in Houghton Regis and The Lawns in Biggleswade.

“There was also a 24-hour extended mental health crisis care offer across Bedfordshire, which included NHS 111 (mental health option) becoming available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for all ages,” added the report.

“Crisis resolution and home treatment teams and liaison psychiatry services expanded to cover 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The review found excellent one-to-one support for individuals seeking help, with positive experiences for service users.

“But it was underused overall, with individual sites providing one to two patient contacts daily, on average. There were 57 service users from Luton, 44 from Central Bedfordshire and 38 from Bedford in July 2024, analysis revealed.

“ELFT and Mind BLMK decided to change the service model after talking to users, while continuing to provide free face-to-face drop-in support for anyone 18 or older from 5pm to 11pm daily.

“This service rotates between the three local authority areas, and will be evaluated after the first six months. Early feedback from an average of 3.4 service users accessing daily is positive.”

ELFT clinical director for crisis pathway services in Bedfordshire and Luton Dr Elena Baker-Glenn explained: “I believe a briefing paper was sent out around the end of November, although we realise we should have come to this committee before the implementation. So we apologise for that.”

Liberal Democrat Stopsley councillor Richard Underwood, who chairs the review group, said he was grateful for the apology as the committee should have had the chance to scrutinise the changes.