I WAS saddened to read of York’s Bootham Park Hospital being compared unfavourably with Leeds (The Press, January 16).

A few weeks before Christmas, I visited a young relative who spent a few days in each hospital, during a brief and intense crisis.

Leeds has a more modern mental health care building, whereas York has the ageing Bootham Park, so harshly criticised in the report. In Leeds, the modern unit, painted dull grey-blue, seemed bleak and hopeless, devoid of life.

The ward at Bootham, recently refurbished and now female only, is bright and airy, welcoming and human, while maintaining the calm and serenity which the patients need.

In both, the staff were devoted and helpful, but the greyness of the surroundings seemed to affect the Leeds ward in every way. Clearly over-worked, the staff had an air of desperation, while continuing to do the very best for their patients.

Thank goodness for the wonderful mental health care provided by the NHS.

Let’s hope it can be rescued and properly funded before it’s too late.

F Mary Simpson, Enfield Crescent, York.