BARNFIELD House in Minehead looks set to be closed after health bosses admitted they had been unable to find a company willing to run the facility as a private nursing home. Instead, specialist units could be created for NHS patients within existing private care homes, which in turn would receive greater support from an expanded community-based health team. Health chiefs are confident the new proposals will see a marked improvement in the standard of mental health care in West Somerset despite the closure. Somerset Coast Primary Care Trust (PCT) chief executive Alan Carpenter, Somerset Partnership NHS and Social Care Trust chief executive John Haines and community directorate of Somerset County Council David Dixon gave their assurances to a packed public meeting in Minehead on Wednesday. They said West Somerset would be able to pioneer a new way of health care delivery, with the NHS block contracting specialist nursing care in new units within existing private care homes. Mr Dixon was reluctant to confirm the location for the pilot scheme - except to say the home was in Minehead and already subject to extensive building work - but said it would eventually provide 20 places for both general nursing and specialist care. Eight specialist beds were earmarked for the first phase of the project, while a further 15 residential care beds would be provided on top of the existing 15 offered at Croft House. However, the extra beds at Croft House would be dependent on the home being rebuilt on a new site, although no such site had yet been identified. Mr Haines told the 60 members of the public who packed into Minehead's Northfield Hotel that additional specialist care and support would be given to private homes taking over the care of mentally frail patients. But he conceded the change over period between the proposed closure of Barnfield and the opening of the new units would lead to a short period of "disruption" for some patients. He also admitted that a small minority of patients with severe mental health problems would no longer be able to be treated in Minehead, but would instead have to go to either Taunton or Burnham. In-patient assessment currently carried out at Barnfield would be transferred to Pyrland House, in Taunton, which itself was undergoing a major refurbishment to provide a total of 38 beds. Day hospital services would be unaffected by the closure and a community-based mental health team would be expanded from just over three full time equivalent staff to 13 to offer more help and support to people in their own homes. Health chiefs have long argued that many people are forced to go into hospital unnecessarily as there are not enough resources to enable them to remain at home. The trust has previously warned that Barnfield House was fast becoming little more than a nursing home and that such a level of service could no longer continue. Mr Haines said: "We are keen to address the long term problem posed by the lack of residential care in the area and we see this plan as an opportunity to address that. "We decided to look at Barnfield to see if it could be developed into a nursing home and we spent a long time working with a provider, drawing up detailed plans and costings. "However, it was concluded that it wasn't going to work. Given that, we sat down and looked at other ideas for long term care." He said the plan outlined at the meeting - which will go before the PCT board for a final decision next Tuesday - would become a model for the delivery of services across Somerset. But some members of the public seemed far from convinced and were concerned that just one fully qualified mental health nurse would be providing support for the entire Somerset Coast PCT area. Derek Edwards, of the Taunton Alzheimers Society, said such provision was "totally inadequate". "You can't have specialised nursing care unless you have specialist nurses in the homes," he said. Theodore Stone, whose wife is currently a patient in Barnfield House, added: "My wife has received excellent care and I'm not satisfied about the wisdom of closing Barnfield. "I am very concerned about her being moved and I am not convinced it needs to be closed." Mr Haines said Barnfield House had been a "laudable" attempt to provide mental health care locally, but times had changed since it was opened and such facilities were no longer practical. Mr Carpenter added: "We are all working together with you to improve the service and I would like to reiterate that money linked with Barnfield will go back into the new service. "I understand there is concern about the numbers of registered mental health nurses and we need to work that out. "You are also giving us a strong message about the transition phase and we need to have a clear plan for when Barnfield will close and when the new units open." The PCT board will discuss the results of the public meeting and decide whether to go ahead with the closure of Barnfield and the creation of specialist units in existing private homes at a meeting in the Northfield Hotel on Tuesday at 2pm.