NHS England bosses have responded to the “significant disquiet” expressed by a leading councillor about the closure of a respite centre for disabled children.

Last month Cllr Seamus Quilty, chairman of Hertfordshire County Council’s health scrutiny committee, wrote to NHS chief Sir Simon Stevens about the decision-making surrounding respite services at Nascot Lawn Respite Service.

The centre, in Langley Road, Watford, offers respite care to children with complex needs but is expected to close later this month.

In his letter, Cllr Quilty said that the Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) had acted “without transparency” in its decision to close the service.

He pointed to “a wholly inadequate approach to engagement” with interested parties, as well as "weak" governance processes.

But responding for NHS England, Midlands and East (Central Midlands) director of commissioning operations Elliot Howard-Jones defended Herts Valleys CCG.

In a written reply, Mr Howard-Jones says the CCG has been working closely with parents, staff and officers from the county council, to ensure care is in place for children who have used Nascot Lawn.

He says he is “assured” that the CCG has acted in an “open manner” with the county council.

He says he appreciates there have  been “difficult conversations” and he acknowledges some “frank meetings” between the CCG and the council.

But he added: “...at the heart of these meetings is a shared desire to ensure the best possible outcome for the children receiving care and their families.".

Meanwhile at a meeting of the CCG board last Thursday (November 8) Herts Valleys CCG chief executive Kathryn Magson said all but one child now had been ‘transitioned’ to alternative provision.

She said that the Nascot Lawn decision had been taken in a careful and considered way, for the good of all residents in Herts Valleys.

CCG board chairman Nicolas Small said he was “bitterly disappointed” that Cllr Quilty’s letter to the CCG’s regulator had so many inaccuracies – but that he wanted the council and the CCG to move forward.

In a letter to Cllr Quilty – published by the CCG – Mr Small tells Cllr Quilty his claims are “inaccurate and unsubstantiated”.

He says the CCG was happy that it had acted in accordance with the principles of “good governance”.

He says the “extensive engagement” carried out by the CCG was specifically acknowledged by the High Court.

And he says the CCG gad replied to the letter because it “contains serious and material inaccuracies and it would be irresponsible of us not to address these.”

At the board meeting member Richard Pile, a GP and a parent of child who had used Nascot Lawn in the past, said he was “shocked” by the letter. And he suggested that with greater thought it would not have been written.

The response to Cllr Quilty’s letter is expected to be considered by a meeting of the full vouncil on November 27.