A decision to treat vulnerable men and women with severe mental health problems in one hospital ward has left some families deeply worried.
Plans to merge two wards at Knockbracken Healthcare Park near Belfast into a single unit with separate wings for men and women have been met with concern.
The Belfast Trust said that the move came in response to lower demand for in-patient treatment and the development of treatment at home. The Trust stressed that patients would have single en suite rooms, however anxiety persists over treating men and women who suffering from severe mental health issues, and who are often extremely vulnerable together.
Former patient Cathy McCullough said that she felt "deeply concerned" about the plans.
She highlighted that in her experience women suffering from mental illness "are extremely vulnerable" She added, "...to put men who are emotionally unstable or mentally ill in with these really vulnerable women is really a bad idea."
But Dr Graeme McDonald, Assistant Medical Director of Mental Health at the trust conceded that improvements were needed.
"There is a problem in Belfast in that the accommodation offered to people with mental health problems is not of the standard that I would wish," he said.
"We aim to try and build a new, 80-bed purpose built unit on a single site in Belfast some time in the next few years."
Dr McDonald stressed the new Rathlin ward would be split in two. It was the most effective way of using money in the safest possible manner, he said.
However, he added: "I'm guaranteeing that where people need for clinical or personal reasons to be nursed in a single sex ward, then that will be offered to them."
PUP MLA Dawn Purvis said women who had been abused or sexually assaulted would find the new ward very difficult.
"There is no question that placing these women on the same ward as men will be detrimental to their recovery," she added.