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Have your say on how and where we provide specialist inpatient mental health care for autistic adults and adults with a learning disability

Posted: 06/03/26

In November 2025, we told you that we would temporarily close Rose Lodge. Rose Lodge is our specialist unit in South Tyneside. It provides assessment and treatment for adults with significant learning disabilities.

(You can read more about the temporary closure of Rose Lodge on our website.)

We said that in early 2026, we would discuss with people what future services should look like.

We’ve extended the temporary closure until October 2026. This gives us time to do this engagement.

We are now starting that engagement programme.

Why we need to change

The NHS is changing how we support people with a learning disability and autistic people who also have mental health needs. We need to make sure people get the right support, in the right place, at the right time.

These are national priorities, outlined in the NHS 10 Year Health Plan.

This is also part of the wider work we are doing to transform our services. You can read more about our ambitions in our strategy, ‘With You in Mind’.

Prevention

Our services should aim to stop people’s problems from getting worse or reaching a crisis.

Community support

We need to improve support in the community. Better community support will mean that fewer people will need to go into hospital. We want to help people to stay closer to their family, friends and support networks.

Inpatient support

We need to improve how we support people with a learning disability and autistic people in hospital.

People should only go into hospital when they really need inpatient care.

Their stay in hospital should be as short as possible. Long stays in hospital can be bad for people’s wellbeing. If someone is in hospital for a long time, it can be harder for them to go back to their community.

We need to help our general mental health wards to meet the needs of people with learning disabilities and autistic people.

Some people with learning disabilities need care in a specialist inpatient unit. This helps us meet their needs. We are exploring how best to provide this specialist inpatient care.

To do all the things above, we need to provide care in a way that:

  • Is based on the latest research evidence
  • Considers clinical expertise and patients’ own preferences
  • Offers more options for community support outside hospital
  • Supports people in their community before they reach a crisis
  • Supports staff to provide the best care. This includes having the right skills, and using specialist ‘in-reach’ teams. (You can read more about in-reach teams below.)
  • Supports carers, families and advocates.

We also need to think about:

  • The risks currently posed by providing care in smaller units which are further away from our other services.
  • Making the best use of our staff and funding.

Over the past few years, we have made a lot of progress on this in the North East and North Cumbria. We have improved community support. And people’s stays in hospital have got shorter.

But there are still many challenges. For example, some people with learning disabilities still face significant delays before they can leave hospital. We must learn from these challenges. We have more work to do to improve care.

We want to hear from you

In March and April 2026, we are running engagement events and an online survey. (See below for details.)

We want to hear from people in the North East and North Cumbria, especially:

  • People with learning disabilities and autistic people who have used our services
  • Their families and carers
  • Health and care staff
  • Partner organisations

What you tell us will help us to improve services for people with a learning disability and autistic people who also have mental health needs.

We want to hear your views on:

  • Ways to improve people’s experience and provide the best care and treatment.
  • The Learning Disability In-reach and Transitions Team (LDITT) we are testing. You can read more about this below.
  • Whether we should develop a similar in‑reach team to support autistic people.
  • How our community learning disability services can support people in hospital and help them return home.
  • How and where we provide specialist inpatient care for adults with learning disabilities. You can read more about this below.

(We are not planning to change the location of our specialist unit for autistic people. It will stay at Mitford Unit at Northgate Hospital in Morpeth. This will be a regional service for the North East and North Cumbria.)

In-reach support for general wards

In-reach teams include various professionals, such as nurses, therapists and clinicians. They are experts in helping people with complex needs. This includes people with learning disabilities and autistic people.

They can help staff on general mental health wards to give the best care to patients with complex needs. This lets us provide care on general wards which are likely to be closer to someone’s home.

The Learning Disability In-reach and Transitions Team

While Rose Lodge is temporarily closed, we are trying out a new Learning Disability In-reach and Transitions Team (LDITT).

This team supports people with learning disabilities who are on our general mental health wards.

They can:

  • Work with staff on mental health wards. They help staff provide the best assessment, care, and treatment for people with learning disabilities. They can work directly with patients and their families or carers. They also advise ward staff on personalised care and treatment plans.
  • Help staff in mental health wards improve their skills and knowledge. This means ward teams can better understand and support people with learning disabilities.
  • Help with extra support needs so patients can go home safely and successfully from hospital. They can offer up to four weeks of support in the community. They work alongside our Community Learning Disability Treatment Teams, who also play a key role in supporting people to leave hospital.

(You can read more about the LDITT on our website.)

We would like to make the LDITT a key part of how we support people with learning disabilities in the future.

We want to hear from you:

  • what do you think about how the LDITT is working now?
  • how it could be developed?
  • how can we use this approach to support autistic people on our general mental health wards?

Providing specialist inpatient care for people with learning disabilities

We’re improving support for people with learning disabilities in the community and on general mental health wards.

But some people with learning disabilities will still need treatment in a specialist inpatient unit to meet their needs.

We want to hear your thoughts. How can we improve specialist inpatient care for adults with learning disabilities? Where should we provide it?

Scenarios we are considering include:

  • Two small specialist learning disability units, located on our main hospital sites.
  • One specialist learning disability inpatient unit, located with our specialist autism inpatient unit in Morpeth.
  • Working with partner organisations to offer specialist independent living spaces in the community.

Each of these has benefits and challenges. Click here for more details about each of these scenarios.

What we hear from you in this engagement might bring up other scenarios. We will consider those too.

Ways to share your views

Take our survey

Our short online survey asks about your experiences of services and what you want to see in future.

Click here to take our survey

Events

We are holding face to face and on-line events where you can talk to us about our plans.

In-person events

  • 18 March 2pm – 4pm: Meadow View, Hopewood Park Hospital, Waterworks Rd, Ryhope, Sunderland SR2 0NB
  • 19 March 2:30pm – 4:30pm: Kiff Kaff, St Georges Park, Morpeth NE61 2NU
  • 20 March 10am – 12pm: Roadside Room, Monkwearmouth Hospital, Newcastle Road, Sunderland SR5 1NB
  • 26 March 10am – 12pm: Learning Lounge, Carleton Clinic, Cumwhinton Drive, Carlisle CA1 3SX
  • 27 March 10am – 12pm: Kiff Kaff, St Georges Park, Morpeth NE61 2NU
  • 31 March 2pm – 4pm: Jubilee Theatre, St Nicholas Hospital, Jubilee Road, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne NE3 3XT
  • 2 April 2pm – 4pm: Learning Lounge, Carleton Clinic, Cumwhinton Drive, Carlisle CA1 3SX
  • 7 April 10am – 12pm: Conference Room 2, Walkergate Park Hospital, Benfield Road, Newcastle upon Tyne NE6 4QD
  • 8 April 10am -12pm: Meadow View, Hopewood Park Hospital, Waterworks Rd, Ryhope, Sunderland SR2 0NB
  • 8 April 2pm – 4pm: Roadside Room, Monkwearmouth Hospital, Newcastle Road, Sunderland SR5 1NB
  • 9 April 10am – 12pm: Jubilee Theatre, St Nicholas Hospital, Jubilee Road, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne NE3 3XT
  • 15 April 2pm – 4pm: Conference Room 2, Walkergate Park Hospital, Benfield Road, Newcastle upon Tyne NE6 4QD

Online events:

These events will be held on Microsoft Teams.

Talk to us one-to-one

We would like to talk one-to-one with people with lived experience. We can offer support to help you have this discussion.

To arrange to talk to us, please email [email protected].

What happens next

This engagement process will be open until late April 2026.

We will share what we hear with the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB). The ICB will lead a formal consultation on the options that are developed. Then, a final decision will be made on the future of services.

Help us spread the word

Print and display this A4 poster to make sure people hear about how to share their views

FAQs

  • How are you engaging with people with learning disabilities and autism in this process?

    We are seeking the views of patients who have used our learning disability and autism services, and their carers.

    We are not able to produce Easy Read information for this initial engagement process. However, this will be explored at the consultation stage.

    We would like to talk one-to-one with people with lived experience. We can offer support to help you have this discussion. To arrange to talk to us, please email [email protected].

  • Will any of the scenarios being proposed mean that people have to go ‘out of area’ for their care and treatment?

    An ‘inappropriate out of area placement’ is where someone needs to be admitted to hospital in another area of the country, because there is not a bed available for them in our wards in the North East and North Cumbria.

    ‘Out‑of‑area’ placements can cause several problems. The distance can strain relationships and make it harder for families and carers to visit. People can also become disconnected from our community Learning Disability services. These placements also create extra financial pressure for the Trust.

    We have worked with clinical staff to develop a range of possible scenarios for providing inpatient care for people with learning disabilities. This is not an exhaustive list. This engagement process offers opportunities for other scenarios to be raised and considered.

    All the scenarios developed so far include an appropriate number of specialist inpatient beds. This makes it very unlikely that ‘out of area’ placements would need to be considered.

    We recognise that some of the proposed scenarios would see all inpatient beds being located either in North Cumbria, or the North East. That means that some patients from other parts of our area would be receiving care further from home. At CNTW, when people need to travel further to visit or support someone, we will pay for their travel or arrange alternative transport.

    It is important to remember that these are highly specialist inpatient services. The work we are doing to strengthen community support and develop in-reach teams means that more people with learning disabilities will be able to receive care in their own community, or in a mainstream mental health ward closer to home.

  • Why aren’t you exploring any other options for where to locate specialist autism inpatient beds?

    When Mitford Unit opened in 2016, it was the first inpatient unit in the UK specifically designed for adults with severe autism, including complex learning disabilities and mental health needs. Mitford has been specifically designed to meet the needs of autistic adults. A wide range of design features allow patients and staff to adapt the environment to individual needs with minimal change. This includes rapid precise temperature control, curved walls and high ceilings, sound-proofing, and more. (You can watch a video walkthrough of the current unit.)

    An estates option appraisal was recently carried out, which found that retaining our specialist autism inpatient beds within the existing, highly specialist Mitford building is the most clinically appropriate option.

    Our proposed future model for autism inpatient provision has been developed by clinicians following extensive engagement and consultation with stakeholders, service users and carers.

    Options for the future clinical model for autism inpatient provision were presented to our Board last year, and this was agreed as the preferred option.

  • What is your proposed future model for providing specialist inpatient beds for autistic people?

    Our future model will provide 4 specialist beds within the existing Mitford building, for autistic patients aged 18+ in the North East and North Cumbria. (This is a change to the previous service model, which provided 15 specialist beds which accepted referrals nationally. We are now working closely with partners to achieve successful discharge or transfer of all current national patients on Mitford by 31 March 2026.)

    We have recently received national Capital funding which enables work to split Mitford Unit into 2 separate areas. This will enable us to make best use of this specialist unit. This has also opened the possibility of co-locating our specialist learning disability and autism inpatient beds, offering significant clinical benefits.