Heather Edmondson Litcham, United Kingdom 30.3.2016 — The Mind Mental Health Helpline although it is to close on 31st MARCH IS TO BE RUN BY THE MIND WELLBEING SERVICE ON REDUCED HOURS from 1st April:- Monday - Friday 4pm until Midnight Saturday & Sunday 10am until midnight each day no 24/7 service at weekends You could say it is a victory for the Service Users but what is the reality outside the operating hours? The Crisis Teams will have to get their acts together and make sure there is someone available to answer their phones outside these hours. sadly they can't even manage that now as I found out to my cost the Sunday before last when Central didn't even answer their phone on two separate occasions!!!!!! NOT EVEN AN ANSWER PHONE???? I have just had an email from a former service user his comments say it all:- " I’ve just been reading in the paper ( EDP) of the opening hours for the new helpline. I find it dreadfully sad that they imagine people in need can limit their calls for help to 4 pm – midnight, Monday to Friday, and 10 am to midnight at weekends. Isn’t it ridiculous? How can one be constrained within those times? One has no way of knowing when one will be poorly. " We have to be grateful that we did not lose this service completely and hope that at sometime in the future it can go back to being a 24/7 service that it was originally. I think that the Media will be keeping a close eye on what is going on, they have very much been on our side. Sadly we have lost experienced staff from the line including the Manager, Jason Moores, who did a fantastic job of putting it back together after the funding was withdrawn 6 months ago and only saved at the last minute. The NHS in general is under real scrutiny and hopefully now Mental Health will feature in the future and not be swept under the carpet. I certainly don't think it will in this part of the country. Thanks to everyone for supporting this campaign but still be vigilant. Heather