Southend Echo kept tabs on mental health cuts in late 1990s

We revealed in 1997 that the Southend Community Care Services Trust – which has long since vanished, thanks to successive NHS reforms – was planning to slash services to tackle its budget overspend.

The war of words that followed between NHS bosses and their medical staff was the subject of many a story in our pages, presenting both sides of the argument.

A story in the Echo outlined the concerns clinical staff at Southend Community Care Services Trust had about the quality of service they were able to provide to 'seriously ill' mental health patients (Image: Newsquest / Southend Forum)

In May 1998, Dr Neal Killala, chairman of the committee for the trust’s consultants, explained to the Echo why staff were so upset.

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“A year ago, management very arbitrarily sought to abolish some services,” he said.

“Nine psychologists out of 11 just left because they were so disgusted with the attitude of management and they have not been able to replace them.”

Mike Harrison, then chief executive of the Southend Community Care Services Trust, gave his side of the story in a defiant front page interview (Image: Newsquest / Southend Forum)

Dr Andrew Black, who had chaired the committee before Dr Killala, said relations between the staff and their bosses had broken down “irretrievably”, to the point where there could be no meaningful talks or relationship.

Trust chief Mike Harrison also spoke to the Echo, in a defiant front page interview.

He said the row had forced him to cancel a sailing holiday, but he was “putting on a brave face” and refusing to resign, despite a vote of no confidence in his leadership.

He denied medics’ complaints, saying: “There has been no unrelenting destruction of services. There has been unrelenting investment.”

“Why should I go?” he asked. “There is not a single thing to say I should be sacked or resign.”

NHS mental health consultants passed a voted of no confidence in the leadership of the Southend Community Care Services Trust, over cuts to psychology, psychotherapy and art therapy services (Image: Newsquest / Southend Forum) Our reporting created an important historic record of a series of events Robin Jamieson, Southend’s former district psychologist, now believes may have contributed to a death rate among Essex mental health patients so high that it has resulted in a public inquiry.

And now that inquiry is underway, the Echo is once again providing a challenge, reporting on Robin’s rejected application for core participant status.

These stories underline the importance of having brave whistleblowers within public services who will fight for improvements, and of having a well-read local newspaper that can ensure they are heard.