A DAMNING indictment of mental health care provision in Bury will be used as the catalyst to wipe the slate clean and to replace confrontation with co-operation. And the major beneficiaries of a new and more open system will be the users themselves.

The architect of the shake-up, Mr Don Mills, has received positive assurances from health authority and social services bosses that users will be given a significant voice in the way the service is shaped and delivered in the future.

The pleges came at the weekend during a seven-hour video presentation hosted by Mr Mills which provided a verbal catalogue of complaints over the existing service in Bury.

Mr Mills, who is chairman of the Mental Health Services, Bury, Combined User Voice, had earlier staged two previous meetings to outline his findings of a one-year research survey to health and social services chiefs.

But during Saturday's full presentation at Summerseat Liberal Club, bosses from Bury and Rochdale Health Authority and Bury's Social Services department agreed to some of Mr Mills' demands.

Now, there are hopes a strategy can be developed to enable users to be given a say in future mental health service decision making

Mr Mills, of Toon Crescent, Bury, spent many months with colleagues interviewing nearly half of the town's 4,000 mental health sufferers.

And he said the results of the survey showed there was an overwhelming need for the users to be heard and for service providers to take heed of their concerns.

Mr Mills has now drawn up a 27-strong list of priorities which relate to a number of mental health care topics including treatment, medication, referrals, housing and benefits. Mr Alan Maden, chairman of Bury and Rochdale Health Authority, said: "The health authority appreciates the position of mental health care services. We started from a low base and have only been in business for two and a half years.

"Mental health is a very high priority. I have listened to these 27 points. The health authority and social services have already responded to these points. We ought to be discussing how we move forward. We will willingly discuss these points."

Mr Maden said Bury and Rochdale had made the most progress of any health authority in the North West in addressing mental health care issues. "A comprehensive service will be in place by April 1998," he told the meeting.

Commenting on the contents of Mr Mills' video, Bury and Rochdale Health Authority chief executive Mr Richard Popplewell said some allegations were exaggerated while others were "absolutely true".

He added: "All these 27 points have been fed back to me - I want to get a move forward."

Backing Mr Mills' call for more user involvement, Mr David Ashworth, Bury Council's Social Services director, said: "I want some move towards consultation on an equal partnership basis."

Mr Mills said of his own organisation, he added: "We represent almost all the general public and almost all the users in Bury. "

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