MORE seriously ill patients have been sent to psychiatric hospitals up to 70 miles away as a result of the closure of Bootham Park Hospital.

Since the hospital was told to close its doors over safety concerns, 22 patients have been relocated from the York area to psychiatric hospitals in the north east, including Durham, Middlesbrough and Hartlepool.

Four of these are people admitted since October 1, who would have been admitted to Bootham Park Hospital before the closure.

A former senior psychiatrist at Bootham Park has warned increasing numbers of patients will be sent to out of area hospitals until the York hospital can be re-opened or replaced.

Dr Bob Adams said: "The issue is there's a constant flow of patients. In one week you may have five admissions or 20. In the course of a year you are talking about anything up to 200 admissions - it could be more, it could be less.

"[Being sent out of area] means they are going to a strange place, they are out of contact with their families and with mental health services and the community in York."

A national bed crisis has meant that mental health patients are often transported "all over the country" and that while previously about a third of patients from York were sent to out-of-area hospitals and two thirds cared for at Bootham Park, now all of them are going elsewhere, Dr Adams said.

As a result of the October 1 closure, yesterday 12 patients were being cared for at Roseberry Park in Middlesbrough, five at West Park Hospital in Darlington, two at The Friarage in Northallerton, two at Sandwell Park in Hartlepool and one at Lanchester Road Hospital in Durham, the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV) said.

A new psychiatric hospital is not expected to have been built in York until January 2019.

The trust has vowed to set up interim psychiatric wards in York within six months however questions have been raised as to where this could be as previous plans reported in The Press to move patients to Peppermill Court, off Huntington Road, and Cherry Tree House in Tang Hall were dismissed.

Dr Adams said: "When this was looked into in the past there weren't any suitable premises, I would be very interested what they are going to do.

"They should look to reopen the Bootham Park wards if they can't find suitable wards in York but that would require the CQC to agree.

"In my view, the risk of transporting patients somewhere else is far greater."

Ruth Hill, director of operations for York and Selby at TEWV, said; “We recognise that this situation is far from ideal and we are doing everything we can to minimise the impact this has on service users and their families.

“We have set up a discharge liaison team who are working closely with the inpatient wards and supporting service users and their families. Members of this clinical team visit the wards daily and maintain close links with carers.

“We are doing all we can to support families who are visiting these hospitals and have set up arrangements for reimbursing people for travel costs.

“The home based treatment teams are also providing vital support to help people stay at home by minimising the need to be admitted to hospital or supporting people when they are discharged home. We have increased staffing levels in these teams.”

Martin Barkley, chief executive at the trust added: “Our ultimate aim is to provide services locally for the people of York and Selby and we will now work at pace and with purpose to achieve this.

“We are looking at all possible options and working hard to find a solution that will enable us to transfer services back to York as soon as possible."

The Press understands 16 consultants from Bootham Park Hospital have written to Care Quality Commission (CQC) management calling for the hospital to be reopened to outpatients and for the year-old place of safety unit - for vulnerable patients detained by the police - to also be reopened.

In their letter the consultants said the five days notice given to close the hospital was not enough. They also flagged up that despite concerns raised about ligature points and the potential for hanging, the hospital was statistically in the lowest quarter of ligature related "incidents" in England and Wales.

Inspectors are due to have revisited Bootham Park to consider re-registering the hospital for outpatients and for the place of safety this week.

  • A helpline for people affected by the closure of Bootham Park Hospital, including a crisis service, can be called on 01904 610700.