A CAMPAIGN has been launched to save some of the 800 jobs which would be lost if medical units at Calderstones finally close.

Union bosses have insisted that at least one low-secure unit should remain at the Whalley site, despite NHS moves to close down operations there.

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NHS England has embarked on a public consultation exercise over Calderstones, in a bid to transform the learning disability hospital population.

And Unison is urging people in East Lancashire to back the option which would see Maplewood, which only opened in 2013, at a cost of £7million, remain.

Staff were set to present a protest petition to Clare Duggan, NHS England’s commissioning operations director, when she visits the Mitton Road location today.

Branch secretary Chris Chamley said: “The consultation states that (the) Whalley site is an ‘institutional setting’, implying that its services are outdated. This is wrong.

“The Maplewood unit is a state-of-the-art mental health facility that was purpose-built in 2013 at a cost of over £7million.”

Opponents have also questioned the wider accessibility of possible alternatives, The Alderley Unit near Knutsford and Auden Unit, near Warrington.

And they say even official figures show keeping Maplewood would save the NHS £2.7million per year.

Under each option, low and medium secure learning disabilities beds would be reduced and there are plans for a new medium secure unit in Liverpool. The three choices offered would see either all beds axed at Whalley, or 40 or 56 retained within the Maplewood unit.

Lesley Patel, regional nursing director for specialised commissioning, said: “We want to ensure that the views of people who both deliver and depend on these services are at the heart of how care is transformed across the region.”

The old hospital building was demolished in 2000. Woodview, the medium secure unit, opened in 2007.

The union’s advice on opposing the closure via the consultation is available at www.whalleynhsconsultation.org