'Difficult decision' to close Samaritans branch

The decision to close a branch of a suicide prevention charity in West Sussex is about building a "more sustainable service for the future", the charity has said.

Samaritans has confirmed the "difficult decision" to shut its Worthing branch at the end of November, leaving the nearest branch in Brighton, around 30 minutes away.

Vanessa Hamilton, assistant director of service delivery (South), said: "Over the next decade, we are moving to fewer, larger branches across the UK and while we deeply value our volunteers, our ultimate duty is to service-users."

Worthing branch volunteer Jim Pollard believes this is the "worst time to be closing branches of Samaritans".

He said: "It's a very, very strange that the charity has decided effectively to sack 120 of us [volunteers]."

Pollard said there was an awareness that Samaritans was "discussing the future" in its desire to "make the most of the money that it's got", but confirmation of the closure was a surprise.

Samaritans said Worthing was a branch in a pathfinder region aimed at testing new approaches to service delivery.

It said those in the branch have known for over a year that it could be be part of a scale-up, growth, merger or possible closure.

The Worthing branch has also operated at a loss for three of the last five financial years, the charity added.

Hamilton said the closure will help modernise the service and promote "more efficient shift planning", which will mean more volunteers on duty at key times and "less of the admin that can keep senior volunteers from answering calls".

Samaritans has confirmed there are no plans right now for the other branches in Sussex which are in Brighton, Eastbourne, Hastings, and Horsham.

However, they intend to invest "several thousand pounds" to upgrade the Brighton branch. The figure is still to be finalised, the charity said.

Pollard also raised some concerns about plans to expand home volunteering.

He said: "You're taking some really difficult calls, talking to someone who's in a really, really tough place, or to whom terrible things have happened, whilst you're sitting in your own bedroom."

He said this could be difficult for some volunteers and it was really important to be able to "offload all the difficult emotions" from a call in person.

"If you don't have that sort of support, it can be very challenging," he said.

Hamilton added: "We are hugely grateful to the Worthing branch volunteers for all their hard work over the years."

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