Health bosses have laid out their vision for a vastly improved community service to care for older people with mental health problems.

Managers from Morecambe Bay Primary Care Trust told a public meeting at Kendal's Stricklandgate House that by closing Ward 2 at the town's Westmorland General Hospital they would free up staff to work on more comprehensive community services.

The meeting was part of a public consultation process about the closure of the ward, which is one of a number of money-saving measures.

However, clinical service manager Meryl Taylor told the meeting that an individual's needs were better met in their own social context within their own families.

Older people with mental health problems and dementia had a long-term condition and needed support from the point of diagnosis right through to the later stages of their illness.

There was already increasing demand for community services and, under the new proposed system, there would be a single point of access to a range of such services.

It was hoped this would provide a better experience for patients and carers, that care would respond to need, and that there would be rapid access to specialist services 24 hours a day.

The only in-patient beds for South Lakeland people would be some for patients who required admission under the Mental Health Act, who would be accommodated at Lancaster or Barrow; and a number for people who needed care that could be provided by a nursing home in the independent sector.

One person at the meeting asked whether carers would be asked to do more than they were able to if the ward shut.

However, Meryl Taylor said the plan was to offer carers and families support throughout the period of someone's illness.

Andrew Billson-Page, who is helping to organise a campaign against the closure of Wards 2 and 4, said he was not against the "fantastic" community services being developed, but wanted to know why this had to be instead of an in-patient ward, which would still be needed.

However, the meeting was told that however many beds remained on a ward, it would still be very expensive and no resources would be released for other services.

l This week, South Lakeland District Council's community overview and scrutiny committee, which has a role in scrutinising the proposals to close Wards 2 and 4, decided to ask for a meeting in January with PCT chief executive Leigh Griffin.