A specialist health service for people with learning disabilities in Bucks will be transferred to a new provider in Hertfordshire.

Aylesbury Vale and Chiltern CCGs will move the service over from Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust to the Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust by September.

It means that inpatient beds, which are currently provided at the Ridgeway Unit in High Wycombe, will be moved more than 30 miles away to Dove Ward, at Kingfisher Court in Radlett, Hertfordshire.

Around 500 people in Bucks use the service but a spokesman for the Chiltern CCG says users should notice “no discernable change” due to the transfer and there are no expected job losses for staff.

They said: “Current relationships between service users and professionals should continue unchanged.

“The change of inpatient setting will only affect a very small number of people - a total of four inpatient beds are commissioned at these units - and we do not anticipate having to move anyone between locations.

“Work is well underway on individual discharge arrangements for patients currently admitted at the Ridgeway Unit, which are expected to take place before the change in contract takes effect.”

The move follows a consultation with the public and healthcare professionals to find out to deliver their services better.

Dr Annet Gamell, Chief Clinical Officer for Chiltern CCG, said the transfer will reduce the need for patients to be admitted to the units.

She said: “We are confident they will be able to deliver a service that delivers a more responsive and high quality level of community-based care so people don’t have to go to hospital.”

As part of the new contract there will be an Intensive Support Team to increase support in the community, allowing services to eventually move from five days to seven days a week.