Medium Secure Unit: update

One of the projects we have been campaigning against is the proposed Medium Secure Unit in Bordesley Green.

I wrote to Ian Cumming, the Chief Executive of the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority. He told me that:

The full business case is being developed by the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust (BSMHFT) and will be considered by the Foundation Trust Board in March 2010. The Trust have made an application to Monitor by Birmingham and Solihill Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust to extend its Tier 2 borrowing limit by £33 million for the purposes of building the Yardley Green unit and this has received the necessary approval. Monitor is the financial regulator of Foundation Trusts and forms its own assessment on the financial viability and risk profile of major investments – this is not the responsibilty of the Strategic Health Authority. The decision as to whether to finance, build and run such a unit rests with the Foundation Trust Board.

I’m now pursuing the local trust for answers. Watch this space for more…