SIR - Regarding the planned closure of Sheffield House, I am reliably informed that the spokesman for the Mental Health Trust has, no doubt with the best of intentions, severely underestimated the occupancy rate of this facility, which is something over 70 per cent, not less than 50 per cent as stated.
No doubt, something at or near 100 per cent occupancy could be achieved if links were forged with the home treatment team and people from other areas were allowed to be admitted. Apparently, Sheffield House has accepted such people in the past and they all regarded it as a far more positive experience than Newtown Hospital.
In the future one is to be either treated at home or in what looks set to become the increasingly crowded confines of Newtown Hospital. The retention of Sheffield House is important because there is a band of persons who do not need the close supervision prevalent on a psychiatric admission ward but for whom the home environment is such that they require respite from on occasions.
VERNON WOTHERSPOON, Malvern.
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