AWORCESTER-based charity that provides a lifeline to people with mental health problems faces an uncertain future after council chiefs awarded an important contract to another national charity.

Worcestershire County Council has awarded a contract for a mental health support service to national mental health charity Rethink instead of the Worcestershire Mental Health Network, which has run support services for people with mental health problems for the last 12 years.

The charity was paid about £90,000 a year by the county council, covering the cost of the four staff and other support services for people with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder.

The network consists of a group of people who, by “knowledge gained from and by virtue of their own illness or their involvement in caring, seek to promote and develop appropriate services that will meet the needs of people with mental health issues now and in the future”.

Jacquie Nuttall, the charity chief executive, said Worcestershire County Council gave them notice that their contract was running out in September 2007 but from February last year continued to extend the contract on an ad hoc basis for three months at a time.

In January charity bosses were told the contract was going out to tender before the end of March and in May were given until the following month to submit a bid.

In July charity bosses learned the contract had gone to someone else.

The charity, which has four paid staff and 30 volunteers, now faces an uncertain future, unless support and funding is found.

The four members of staff have been offered positions at Rethink but some have expressed concern that the service will not be as good.

The network will also have to leave its base in the Angel Centre in Worcester city centre unless more support is forthcoming.

Miss Nuttall said: “Rethink are a national charity and we don’t want to have a go at them because they have come in and tendered for this work. We are an independent, Worcestershire-based organisation.

We have no national agendas but provide a local voice. While we listen to what’s happening nationally we are more concerned about what is happening locally.

“Worcestershire County Council has had no service user and carer involvement in the tender. They never came down and asked us what we were doing or asked our members how happy they were with the service. Noone from the county council has checked up on us in three years or on what we were doing with the money.”

The group is looking at securing funding for a development officer so they can continue their work.

Rethink are now based at the Angel Centre.

Oliver Orr, aged 61, of Wyld’s Lane, Worcester, who has been admitted to hospital six or seven times because of bipolar disorder, says he may never have had the confidence he has now developed without the help of the network.

Mr Orr plans to stand on the Council of Governors, a body which represents the interests of patients, once the Worcestershire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust becomes a foundation trust.

Mr Orr said: “The network has been close to my heart since I first joined it. It increased my confidence so I was able to do various things I could not do before like attend public meetings about mental health services and I’m still hoping to stand as a governor. I don’t think I would probably have had the confidence to do that without the network. With Rethink we have to wait and see what happens. I hope they understand the ethos of the network being a service-user and carer-led organisation.” Bob Leverett, 68, of Lansdowne Terrace, Malvern, has battled depression and anxiety and now fears for the future of the service. He said: “I am quite disappointed that an organisation that has the double advantage of being local and independent has lost its contract. We have a lot of respect for Rethink and the work they do but they are basically a service provider. The network to me is more about representation.

You cannot do both. The network gives service users a chance to speak for themselves in Phoenix Magazine.”

Network representatives were also disappointed that members of Rethink did not attend an annual general meeting in Droitwich on Monday, October 19, when service users and charity leaders would have a chance to question them.

Carl Burrows, aged 72, a carer from Malvern Link, said: “The biggest concern we have is the fact that Rethink is a huge national organisation where as the network has a local ethos. I came across this charity five years ago and it provides a good supporting role.”

Rachel Hannah, public relations officer for the network, who has been treated in hospital for depression, said: “If Rethink does a better job than the network, then that is fine by me. The point about the network is that it’s run by people who have direct, lived experience of mental health challenges in their lives. We can connect more deeply with people.

We have built up trust over many years.”

A Worcestershire County Council spokesman said: “It is the policy of the county council to review and re-tender contracts every three years to ensure that services are procured in a transparent manner and to ensure ongoing quality.

“The contract was awarded to the provider who best met the tender service specification. Rethink will be monitored, as with all our contracts, against the specific outcomes that have been stipulated within the contract to ensure they are providing the desired quality and outcomes, with the needs of service users and carers being an intrinsic part of their delivery.

“We are working closely with both providers to ensure a seamless handover and it is important that service users and carers are empowered to positively engage with Rethink, and play a part in the shape of their new service. We also provided feedback to the WMHN as to why their tender was unsuccessful.”