THE Lea Castle Centre once ranked among the best in the country for treatment of people with mental illness is facing the axe after a meeting of NHS trust bosses.

Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust's board agreed to launch a public consultation over the 40-acre site's future at an extraordinary meeting, on December 21.

Three options have been put forward with the directors' preferred choice to wind up services at the centre where 180 work.

Remaining proposals include further investment in services or for arrangements to remain as they are with the consultation set to run between January 7 and March 28.

Roisin Fallon-Williams, learning disability director, said: "Our first concern is to make sure whatever the future for Lea Castle Centre, the people who live there at present should get the best services that can be provided for them.

"We have to look at the best way of providing care for people who need our help and Lea Castle is simply no longer fit for purpose.

"It is a huge site with a complex layout, on which many buildings are out of use and boarded up.

"We recognise the excellent services provided at the Lea Castle Centre and the high regard in which it is held by residents and their families.

"The staff do a difficult job extremely well but the reality is there is substantially reduced demand from commissioning organisations.

"We will also do all we can to help staff who currently work at the centre to find a new job either in our trust, elsewhere in the NHS, or in another role which suits their skills, abilities and ambition."

She added service commissioners such as Worcestershire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, staff, and carers of clients who use the service had already been told about the plans, including the possible closure.

The centre has 46 beds with 35 currently occupied and costs more than £2 million a year to run.