Community perspectives on the impact of the closure of acute mental health services at the Gordon Hospital

This is a report by Healthwatch Westminster and Healthwatch Kensington and Chelsea. The project looks at the impact of bed closures for mental health patients as a results of the COVID pandemic.

A total of 133 people were spoken to for the project.

From June to September 2023, we attended various community meetings, including in-person and online series of the CNWL 

community events on the future of acute mental health care, events organised by the local council, and care quality meetings of local 

healthcare providers (see Appendix for more details). We also spoke with residents who attended Healthwatch community engagement and outreach events in Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea, as well as residents who contacted us via email and telephone to share their feedback. These various engagement activities informed the scope of the project and allowed us to hear views from people from different backgrounds and sectors.

The Healthwatch team also conducted 14 in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, to gain in-depth insight into the views of people from diverse sectors and organisations. We spoke with representatives from healthcare services, charities, and residents’ associations, as well as several residents with lived experiences of acute mental illness. We identified these individuals attending community events, and reaching out to our community networks who provide mental health services or work closely with people with acute mental health needs.

The semi-structured interviews lasted from 30 minutes to one hour. With participants’ consent, we recorded and transcribed the 

conversations for analysis. The findings in this report are anonymised, and we have changed or removed any personally identifiable

information for participants’ confidentiality and safety. Topics discussed during the interviews included experiences getting 

mental health care or supporting people with acute mental health needs, observed changes in acute mental health provision and 

broader community mental health support (in the bi-borough and beyond) since the Gordon Hospital closure, and recommendations for ways to better meet residents’ and service users’ mental health needs, especially for vulnerable groups such as people who are rough sleeping or from global majority ethnic backgrounds.

There are recommendations in this report. These broadly suggest the need for both in-patient beds and community support for those with mental health support needs.

There are follow up actions in the report. After publishing this report, we are continuing to engage with key stakeholders, decision-makers and the public, sharing our findings and contributing to discussions on the future of acute mental health services in the bi-borough.