Manchester's Brian Hore Unit closes

Sadly, our eleventh-hour plea to Manchester City Council to stop the closure of our much-loved alcohol and mental treatment centre appeared to fall on deaf ears. Our petition failed to stop the closure of the Brian Hore Unit, which shut on March 31. So did an application to the high court which might have suspended the process. You can see Granada Reports TV news story on the closure at the link that came with this message. Saying that, we fight on. Our application for a judicial review is still proceeding. It also appears that we may have gained some concessions about the nature of future alcohol recovery services in Manchester. In the meantime, The Friends of the Brian Hore Unit, a voluntary organisation run by service users, has set up a weekly support group which takes place at Withington Community Hospital on Friday evenings. Donations to the Friends of the Brian Hore Unit in its new role as a volunteer service and as guardian of our recovery community are already being received. It is envisaged that sessions at Withington Community Hospital may be expanded in the future. In the meantime, the Save the Brian Hore Unit Campaign and the Friends of the Brian Hore Unit would to thank you for signing our petition. The comments posted by supporters and service users alike have been particularly moving – a testament to the strength of feeling felt for the Unit and the life-saving service it provided. Until last week, Manchester's alcohol services were a beacon of best practice, something of which we could all be proud. Just about every local clinician would agree: the best way to truly tackle our region's huge problem with alcoholism would be a Brian Hore Unit in every local authority across Greater Manchester. This approach would also tackle patients' mental health issues at the same time with the same cash. It is a great shame that a model example in this field was eliminated before it had the opportunity of more widespread adoption. As we move forward, the Friends of the Brian Hore Unit will lobby for this model to be readopted. And we will continue to be the torch-bearers for its Made-in-Manchester ethos. You can keep up to date with how we get on at the Friends of the Brian Hore Unit website, http://fbhu.org. Thanks again, The Campaign to Save the Brian Hore Unit