London mental health unit closed despite protests

A pioneering mental health unit in south London closed its doors at the end of last month, despite campaigners' efforts to keep it open

South West London and St George's Mental Health Trust has decided to 'temporarily' close the Henderson Hospital in Sutton due to funding shortages (NT News, 15 April, p5). 

In a letter to Richard Ottaway, MP for Croydon South, junior health minister Ivan Lewis said the Henderson had been a 'flagship' for treating personality disorders for over 60 years but the government now believed the unit should be funded regionally rather than centrally.

A group of campaigners marked the closure by laying flowers outside the Henderson last month.

Anne Weir, a charge nurse at the hospital, asked: 'When will this regional funding be in place, so I can return to the job I am trained to do?'