CREATIVE ROUTES HAS BEEN CAMPAIGNING TO SAVE THE PSYCHIATRIC EMERGENCY CLINIC, ALWAYS AWARE OF THE LOOMING DARK SHADOW OF THE MENTAL HEALTH ACT REFORMS.

The closure of the Emergency Clinic at the Maudsley Hospital will mean that people in mental health crisis "out of office hours" will have no where to go apart from overcrowded and inadequately resourced local A & E departments.
Simon Hughes MP for North Southwark & Bermondsey and Kate Hoey MP for Vauxhall joined forces with Proudtobe Mad, a new forum of mental health service user groups from Lambeth and Southwark, when a petition to save the Emergency Clinic at the Maudsley Hospital was delivered to the Department of Health.
User groups have been campaigning to keep the clinic open for two years now as they fear people in extreme mental and emotional distress will have no where to go if it closes.
"I do not feel safe in A&E when I'm in crisis" said service user Sarah Tonin who is part of campaigning user group Creative Routes. "If the Emergency Clinic closes I will be too scared to seek help, especially if the government introduces enforced drugging in the community with the reforms of the Mental Health Act. I need compassion at the Emergency Clinic not compulsion in the community".
Their campaign was taken up this year by the South London Press who have collected nearly 2000 signatures from people across London demanding that the clinic stays open. Five South London MPs have given their support to the campaign including Streatham's Keith Hill, Solicitor General Harriet Harman (MP for Camberwell and Peckham) and Cabinet Minister Tessa Jowell (MP for Dulwich and West Norwood).
"Our campaign has received widespread support from all sections of the community" says Teresa Priest of campaigning user group Southwark Mind "The general public realizes that saving the Emergency Clinic will mean the difference between life and death for thousands of people with mental health problems. We can only hope that their common sense will be shared by Patricia Hewitt.
The Joint Health Scrutiny Committee of Lambeth & Southwark Councils decided unanimously in summer to refer SLaM's proposals to reform local crisis services (including closure of ec) to Secretary of State for Health Patricia Hewitt.