A GOOLE charity has said it is being forced to close a £1.5 million specialist brain injury unit because local health authorities are failing to refer patients.

Bridgehead House was opened by the Leonard Cheshire organisation in January last year in response to local demand for an Acquired Brain Injury rehabilitation service.

But only 15 people have been referred to it during the 18 months it has been open. It currently has only two of its 12 beds in use.

Bryan Dutton, the director-general of Leonard Cheshire, said health services, especially in the Hull area, have been reluctant to send patients to the unit despite clinical staff repeatedly stating the need for a facility of its type.

He said: "Failure by the local health services to utilise Bridgehead House fully has made it financially unviable.

"We have sustained substantial and continuing losses as a result, and can no longer subsidise the provision of this specialist health facility.

"We are saddened and extremely frustrated by this unnecessary situation. We know how much this specialist service is needed - and we cannot understand why some local health services are failing to refer people to it.

"This denies brain-injured people their rights to the very best standards of care available. The impact on them and their families is incalculable."

He also refuted claims made by Claire Wood, director of nursing, quality and clinical services at East Yorkshire Primary Care Trust on behalf of all the local health trusts in the East Yorkshire and Humber area, that the selection criteria for admissions to Bridgehead House were too inflexible.

Updated: 14:59 Friday, July 25, 2003