Isle of Wight mental health drop-in service media statement

Our Safe Haven on the Isle of Wight, a drop in service for people experiencing a mental health crisis, is currently open for limited hours due to staff shortages.

Sue Lightfoot, Head of Commissioning Mental Health, Learning Disability and Dementia at NHS Isle of Wight Clinical Commissioning Group, said:

This situation is very worrying for anyone using this service, and also difficult for the staff at Richmond Fellowship, who are committed to offering people the best possible support.

We are actively working with Richmond Fellowship now to make sure a service, albeit with reduced hours, continues to operate – safely – over the coming weeks, to ensure that support is still available to those in need. Existing staff from other Richmond Fellowship services have volunteered to work extra hours to offer this support.

There are of course other sources of support available, including the Community Mental Health Team crisis line 01983 522214, or the Samaritans on Freephone 116 123, but the drop-in service plays an important role and we hope it can continue.

Looking further ahead, we are also working with Richmond Fellowship to recruit new members of staff so that the service can quickly be returned to a sustainable footing. This recruitment is under way already and we expect the Safe Haven to be operating a full service in the New Year.