Bethlem Addictions Services is a ground-breaking unit that is less than 2 years old. It is the successor of the Bethlem Hospital's Wickham Park House (the NHS's first inpatient drug detox unit) and Alex One (an inpatient alcohol detox unit). Its model of high and low dependency care recently won its Trust's award for innovation. However, the South London and Maudsley Trust now intends to close the service because it runs at a loss. This ignores evidence that good drug and alcohol care leads to abstinence and reduces the costs that people with long-term addictions put on other areas of the state- like A&E admissions, crime, unemployment and poor physical and mental health. Addiction services save lives and save money from other areas. Closing BAS will lead to a loss of services for the most vulnerable people in our society. People with complex mental or physical health, learning disabilities, pregnant women, people who can't complete community detoxes or have failed in the detoxes that do not employ in-house Doctors, Occupational Therapists, Psychologists, nurses and support workers. These people will either be left with no care or be cared for in the Maudsley's Acute Assessment Unit, which is not appropriate- the AAU provides short medically-assisted alcohol and crack detoxes for people at immediate risk of seriously harming themselves, there is no pass system to allow recovering addicts outside and gradually organise for a life without drugs or alcohol. Also, there is no space for the diversity of needs catered for in BAS, in the grounds of the Bethlem Hospital. Staff with great experience in drug and alcohol care will be re-deployed into other areas where they won't use their skills, meaning a great resource will be lost forever. Referrals to BAS have recently dropped because of local cuts to drug and alcohol budgets. NHS drug and alcohol services locally have been taken over by any willing providers, who only refer the most complex cases to BAS, drastically cutting BAS's income. BAS was built less than 2 years ago because there was a need for a modern detox service for vulnerable people who can't afford The Priory. SLaM is now a Foundation Trust, which means it is motivated by profit, rather than caring for the vulnerable people who use BAS. BAS was founded recently at significant cost and needs time to become established and generate new referrals. We, the undersigned, call on Stuart Bell, Chief executive of SLaM, to keep Bethlem Addiction Services open.

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