HEALTH chiefs have pledged that people suffering from severe mental illness who are a danger to themselves or others will still be treated in hospital despite ward closures.

Bosses at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust plan to close nearly a third of acute hospital beds early next year.

If the scheme goes ahead it would see the loss of 48 out of 165 beds available in Hampshire with more patients treated at home.

NHS bosses aim to save £4.5m in three years, £1.5m of which would be ploughed into strengthening “hospital at home” treatment.

During a public consultation, worries included greater demands on family carers and potential risks, for example when schizophrenic patients have acute psychotic episodes.

In the House of Commons earlier this month, New Forest East MP Dr Julian Lewis accused health bosses of “taking an immense gamble with the welfare of people who almost by definition are at risk of losing their lives.”

The Tory MP criticised the number of hospital beds left as “woefully inadequate.”

The allegations have been denied by the trust and Dr Lesley Stevens, clinical director of the trust, attempted to reassure councillors at a meeting of Hampshire County Council’s health overview and scrutiny committee (HOSC).

She said: “If someone is a risk to themselves or other people because they are acutely unwell they will come into hospital. We need to be clear about giving this assurance.

Our intention is not to manage people at home who are going to worry or frighten carers.”

Under the plans 24 mental health beds at Woodhaven in Calmore are threatened with closure along with 24 beds at The Meadows in Sarisbury Green.

In addition, the trust is planning to shed eight rehabilitation beds at Copper Beeches in New Milton. But in August and September there were just a couple of empty beds available for the whole of the county.

The largest number of empty beds in any one week over the last three months appeared to be 27, according to a slide shown by trust bosses to HOSC.

The committee approved plans to shut Copper Beeches but deferred a decision about the acute bed closures until January 2012. It asked for more information, including future plans for Woodhaven.