A CALL for a public inquiry to investigate the "outrageous squandering of money" on buildings at the Fountain Way hospital in Salisbury was made by a former hospital general manager on Monday.

David Nobbs, who was manager and a clinical director when the hospital was known as the Old Manor Hospital, made his plea during the first public consultation meeting organised by the south Wiltshire primary care trust to discuss plans to change mental health services in the Salisbury area.

The proposals to switch the emphasis of the care of the mentally ill from hospital to community had a stormy passage and passions were high during the two-hour public meeting.

Mr Nobbs received a round of applause when he said: "One of the sad things about this consultation document, I have noticed, is that very little is said about patients."

Speaking to members of the trust, Mr Nobbs said: "I think you need to go back to the drawing-board and bring the patients into it. The decision to move into community care is not being made just by these people in front of us.

"In recent times, there has been outrageous squandering of money and I suggest we need a public inquiry - and the people who spent that money unwisely should be brought to book to account for it. Many of them are still employed by the NHS, although not in Salisbury."

Mr Nobbs said he shared the concerns of carers and organisations working with mentally ill people, both young and old, and warned that "community care is not a new invention".

He said: "Carers have said that closing a mental hospital brings treatment into the family home.

"Beds in Salisbury district hospital are swamped by people who should be under mental health care. Community care is not as brilliant as you make out."

Other carers, some close to tears, spoke of their "yo-yo lives" and said care in the community was simply pushing the responsibility on to carers' shoulders.

They warned this could lead to carers themselves facing mental health problems due to stress.