Mental health services need changes and for figuring out what, people are being asked for their views on changes to mental health services that are meant for older people.

For older lot at south Durham and Darlington, mental health inpatient beds are being reviewed by NHS County Durham and Darlington.

Services are affected by the consultation at Sedgefield Community Hospital, Auckland Park Hospital, West Park Hospital, in Bishop Auckland and in Darlington and the consultation runs until the end of this month.

Various people have been consulted by the trust like patients, clinicians, carers and families and for consideration; about five options have been suggested.

Across various hospitals, there will be about 15 fewer assessments due to some of the proposals that are included in the review.

There is another option also that is about bed base, no change and services that are going on at present.

It has been stated by the NHS trust that there is a decrease in the time frame that is spent by patients getting admitted in hospitals despite an increase in the number of patients coming in for getting treated at treatment wards and even for assessment and this leads to fewer beds.