TWO day centres in Salisbury that support and help people with mental health problems face closure, as the south Wiltshire primary care trust battles to save £1.5m.

Saying it is modernising mental health services, the PCT is proposing to cut funding for the Greencroft Centre, in Fish Row, and the Salisbury Industrial Therapy Unit, on the Ashfield Road trading estate, by 50 per cent - to £125,000.

The trust wants several organisations to bid for the right to provide a new service, of which only a small part would be day-centre based and the rest provided on a one-to-one basis.

The PCT believes this would encourage greater social inclusion and enable users to access a wider range of leisure opportunities. But the plans spell certain closure for at least one of the two centres and a much-reduced on-site service for the other.

Members of the Greencroft Centre are worried that this could delay their individual recoveries, as they would no longer be able to meet regularly and share experiences with like-minded people.

Some even fear it could mean a return to hospital - and said this was ironic, as the plans were supposed to encourage more care in the community.

"A lot of members here say that the Greencroft Centre is what keeps them out of hospital," said one member, who has attended nearly every day for the past two-and-a-half years.

"This centre helps people get back into normal society - it's like a stepping stone.

"What will happen to them if they don't have anywhere to go?

"They will probably become extremely ill and end up having to be hospitalised or From page 1

given extensive home support." He said a one-to-one service would prove far costlier and more time-consuming than running two day centres.

He added: "Yes, it would be good quality time, but two hours a week is no satisfactory replacement for somewhere you can come all-day, every day."

Carole Griffiths, manager of the Greencroft Centre, said she was making a point of talking to all members so that she could pass on their views to the PCT. She added: "My hope is that they won't ignore what these people say they need.

"We welcome modernisation for the right reasons, but there has to be recognition of what people in south Wiltshire want."

Salisbury MP Robert Key described both centres as a lifeline to the people they served.

He said: "If the PCT forces them to halve their opening hours or worse, people only have three options - stay at home, often lonely and unloved, go into hospital for lack of support in the community, or wander the streets of Salisbury.

"This is why I saw the strategic health authority - to ask them to intervene and get the cuts phased over at least two years. Then, there might be some chance for these centres to rethink their finances."