Devon County Council(DCC) is consulting over the closure of the North Devon Link Centres in Bideford, Barnstaple and Ilfracombe. The link centres are vital adult mental health services that provide all sorts of care including preventive care. There is a dedicated team of staff who have many years experience, these staff will lose their jobs. The Centres are currently paid for by Devon County Council's adult social care budget and DCC is restricting access removing social care from those suffering mental health problems.  The decision to close the centres would go against the new Mental Health Framework that NHS England is rolling out across the country, as integrating health and social care to better support the patient was what the Link Centres have always been about..

We are mounting a challenge to the lawfulness of the consultation itself, and to the proposed closure of these vital centres for those with mental health problems.  As a remote, rural and isolated area Northern Devon does not have access to many of the third sector organisation and large charities that help support and advocate for people in other parts of Britain.  We have therefore had to rely on our own endeavours to fight for a service that has been going since 1991, with over 100 people attending each week.

The only reason given in the consultation is the severe challenges faced by Devon County Council in balancing their budget, due to insufficient support from central government.  However, the removing of a service that has been a beacon of best practise and showed the way to integrate social care with medical support, before it was happening across the country. is not a solution to the County's financial difficulties.  It would become immediately apparent that further pressure will be heaped on emergency services when they have to deal with the worsening mental health in the Northern Devon area.

A consultation in 2021 found the service was so effective that it should be immediately reinstated to its pre-covid provision, as soon as practically possible as covid restrictions eased.  This has in fact never happened, and the County Council in a panic to find savings is picking on a service that they believe is unable to defend itself, rather than something that truly offers poor value for money.  The political expediency of removing services from people eligible for social care under the Care Act 2014, is not good decision making and it is not effective government and represents a gross procedural unfairness to people needing support.