UP to £2.1 million has been spent in 16 months on sending mental health patients from York to out-of-area hospitals - with some going hundreds of miles away.

Patients suffering from serious conditions in the vale of York area have been sent to beds as far away as London, Bristol, Newcastle and Liverpool.

The cost of funding these beds in private and NHS hospitals has been between £1,259,958 and £2,125,578 between the start of 2014 and April this year, The Press has found, based on variable costs per bed.

Patients have been sent out of area on 220 occasions, a Freedom of Information request to the Leeds and York NHS Foundation Trust (LYPFT) found- with patients spending 3206 nights in hospitals away from their home between the start of last year up to April.

The longest stay of the patients - some of whom had been sectioned and were suffering from conditions including psychosis and schizophrenia - was 177 days.

Dr Mick Phythian, of Defend Our NHS York, said: "It’s terrible that the Trust is spending so much money sending mental health patients out-of-area when this has a compounded cost to the patients and their families of the long distance, and additional time and cost, required to visit. At a time when patients need friends and family support, this needs to be nearby."

His concerns were echoed by the charity York Mind. Its chief executive officer Alyson Scott said: "We would prefer to see people closer to home.

"The treatment should be the same at each hospital but it's about having that social network that is bound to improve people's mood rather than only being able to to see someone once a week because they can't afford to get there."

Mental health provision in York is commissioned by the Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and provided by LYPFT.

A spokesperson for Vale of York CCG said: "On rare occasions when local and regional inpatient facilities are fully occupied, further demand for the service has resulted in patients being treated elsewhere.

"All patients wherever possible are repatriated at the earliest opportunity according to their treatment plan.

"The wishes of patients are also taken into consideration in all decisions about their treatment to avoid any possible disruption to their care."

Jill Copeland, chief operating officer and deputy chief executive of LYPFT said it strives to treat people in York but there is not always space available.

She said: "Where this is the case, we try to care for people in nearby services such as Leeds or Harrogate. Where people can’t be cared for in York, our staff work hard to return people to services nearer to home as soon as possible.

"In December last year, the NHS Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group transferred the budget and responsibility for out of area placements to our Trust. This allowed us to dedicate resources to address this issue and we have achieved a reduction in both the number of people treated out of area and the length of time people spend away from their local area.

"We will continue to work closely with our commissioners to look at the demand for beds now and in the future and consider how we can meet needs locally.”

Bed prices vary from about £393 to £663 per day, Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust said.

Last year former Health minister Norman Lamb said out-of-area treatment was a "last resort".

The care and support minister added that it was "unacceptable" if patients had to travel "hundreds of miles" for treatment.

"There's a national shortage of beds on acute wards, with people being shuttled around the country."

 

York Press:

Kerry Owen, a York mental health campaigner, who has first hand experience of being sent out of area said patients can feel "shuttled around the country".

She said: "We know that people recover faster when they get the care they need close to their families and communities.

"Sometimes out of area placements are necessary for people who need very specialist care that isn't available locally, but there's a national shortage of beds on acute wards, with people being shuttled around the country.

"This means that people can't make the relationships with staff and other patients which they need to start their recovery.

"When I was sent out of area, I never knew when I would get a phone call telling me to pack my bags and get in a taxi. I spent months in a state of constant uncertainty. I didn't feel able to talk to anybody about my problems, because I might never see them again."