NHS chiefs have agreed to reconfigure services for patients with learning disabilities in the North of England — and that appears likely to result in Calderstones Hospital being threatened with closure.

As reported on Thursday, the author of an independent report commissioned by NHS England has advised the organisation to “shut down” large institutions such as Calderstones in Whalley.

NHS England welcomed Sir Stephen Bubb’s report, titled Winterbourne View — Time For A Change, and agreed to spark a reorganisation of services in the North, with a view to moving patients to smaller units or community-based care.

A report to its board on Thursday did not name Calderstones but said the Care Quality Commission would work with NHS England and other bodies to “develop a clear approach for ensuring that unacceptable mental-health and learning-disability hospital services are closed through use of our enforcement powers.

“Closures must not lead to vulnerable patients being put at further risk. The responsibility for delivering alternative appropriate placements will be the responsibility of the commissioners.”

Last year, inspectors from the CQC found “serious deficiencies in the quality of care” at Calderstones, including excessive use of face-down restraint, poor staffing levels and too many patients being subjected to seclusion and segregation methods.

Leaders at Calderstones Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Mitton Road facility, said they had “no knowledge” of any intended closure, and questioned whether the recommendations were appropriate for patients in secure units.

More than half of the 220 patients at Whalley are held in secure units.