A REVIEW of specialist mental health and learning disability provision in County Durham and Tees Valley has highlighted gaps in local services.

The review, carried out by County Durham and Tees Valley Strategic Health Authority (SHA), concluded that too many patients were being treated a long way from their homes because local services did not exist.

Experts said that bringing services nearer to people's homes could save the NHS millions.

Local NHS organisations will be asked to consider how to plug the gaps highlighted in the review and provide more services.

More than £30m is spent on what is known as out-of-area treatments for a relatively small number of patients.

The review team believes that significant savings could be made if specialist services are provided within County Durham and Tees Valley.

As part of the year-long review, the SHA asked the independent Health and Social Care Advisor Service (HASCAS) and Manchester University to carry out a census of social services and NHS placements.

This showed that 93 organisations were used to provide care for people with learning disabilities and 81 organisations were caring for people with mental health problems.

Thirty-seven organisations were caring for only one person.

The review calls for: locally accessible services for children and adolescents who need specialist care; each area to have a doctor experienced in treating people with addiction and mental health problems; each area should have access to beds for people with specialist learning disabilities; an effective local service for people with personality disorders; an in-patient unit for new mothers with mental health problems; an eating disorders service and the development of hospital teams who can help people who are physically ill but also have mental health problems.

The report has been approved by the board of the SHA and will now be discussed by every health organisation in the area.