Mental health group hits out at Angus Council move

Angus Mental Health Association has hit out at the pre-qualifying process that led to its exclusion from the local authority’s mental health tendering process.

AMHA chairman Ron Scrimegour said it had been a lengthy and drawn-out process where the odds were stacked against them.

Angus Council voted 15 to 10 in favour of approving a report that excluded AMHA from the tendering process at a meeting on Thursday.

Mr Scrimegour said: “Scottish Government procurement guidelines state that you discriminate against small organisations when the tendering process is drawn out. The whole pre-qualifying process took 14 months.

“We also take issue with the way the report was written. It made it appear as though all of the shortcomings were related to AMHA rather than general observations. It was biased and slanted against AMHA.”

Mr Scrimegour insisted the council was not qualified to decide on the future of the service. “They do not have the training or expertise to decide something of this importance,” he argued.

Many people involved in AMHA had been left in shock by the decision, he said.

“The general reaction is one of disappointment and betrayal, a lot of people are very upset by what happened.”

Community Integrated Care, Cornerstone UK, Mental Health Matters and Penumbra all met the pre-qualifying requirements and will progress to the next stage in the tendering process.

Alison Andrews, the council’s social work and health convener, said: “Angus Council and NHS Tayside are seeking to commission the highest possible quality service for people with mental health problems. AMHA had ample opportunity to address the areas where it fell short of the standard.”