CONTROVERSIAL plans to shut a day centre for people with mental health problems are expected to be criticised by campaigners at a public meeting today.
Supporters of the Open Door Project on Victoria Embankment – which is currently used by around 70 people – were set to attend the meeting in the Long Meadow Day Centre, The Meadows, at 11am to plead with city council representatives to keep it open.
The local authority says the closure is part of £1 million plans to reinvigorate mental health services in the city.
But campaigners and people who attend the centre, which has been running for 25 years, say the Open Door Project provides vital care and support and relocating users to a difference places would cause more problems.
Bob Aston, 74, of Keyworth is a member of the Nottingham Rethink Group which strives for better mental health services. He said he was appalled by the plans.
"Our local day centre facilities and hospital services for people with mental health problems have already suffered draconian cut-backs in the past few years," he said.
"Many people suffering from mental illness are not well enough to make effective complaints."
Councillor Dave Liversidge, the city's portfolio holder for adult services, said last week that the closure of Open Door was part of a £1 million investment in adult care in the coming year and the council wanted to "reorganise" residential and day care services in the city.
Current Open Door users may end up travelling to the Acorn Resource Centre, at the Mary Potter Centre, in Hyson Green, to get the same service.
No date for the closure has been confirmed.
