NHS leaders have said they would not oppose an official inquiry into what happened to cause the closure of Bootham Park Hospital.

A meeting of the Health and Adult Social Care Policy and Scrutiny Committee has tonight heard from the NHS organisations involved in the closure of Bootham Park Hospital.

Senior managers said significant progress has been made since the closure of the hospital and plans are underway to provide an interim psychiatric unit in York – which could potentially be a 24 bed unit at Peppermill Court off Huntington Road – with the long term objective of opening a new, purpose built hospital in 2019.

The meeting was told the Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out an unannounced inspection at the hospital in September after a series of further concerns about Bootham Park Hospital had been brought to their attention.

Jenny Wilkes, of the CQC, said these included concerns about the “stench of dead rats under the building”, water leaks and concerns about staffing levels. When inspectors went into the building they found serious concerns including the heat of the water, which was hot enough to scald patients, that patients were not in clear lines of sight, the risk of hanging from ligature points and possible Legionella risks in the water supply.

Cllr Stuart Barnes asked NHS representatives if they would oppose an inquiry into circumstances leading to the closure as proposed by York MP Rachael Maskell.

Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LYPFT), new provider Tees and Esk Wear Valleys Trust (TEWV), and NHS Property Services said it would have no objections to a formal inquiry, and councillors agreed this would be something they would consider.

Addressing the meeting, Dr Mark Hayes, chief clinical officer for the Vale of York CCG, said: “We want to apologise for arriving at this situation, it demonstrates that a bunch of people trying to do the right thing, can do the wrong thing.”

Inspectors have since re-visited the hospital with a view to re-opening it to outpatients but had told TEWV improvements had to be made before it could be re-opened.

Further debate was given to who was to blame for the closure and why necessary improvement works had not been made in time.

Chris Butler, chief executive of the Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust which held the contract to run mental health services until October 1, told the meeting it had diligently kept the CQC up to date about delays in progress at the hospital, to the extent that it had “possibly triggered the closure of Bootham Park Hospital”.

His team told the meeting it was not directly able to address many of the issues in the building as it is owned by NHS Property Services and many necessary improvement works were “in the gift of others”.

However, Cllr Mary Cannon read documents which suggested LYPFT had previously assured authorities of progress it was making in improving Bootham Park Hospital.

Dr Paul Lelliott, deputy chief inspector of hospitals for the CQC, said the transfer of mental health services from LYPFT to TEWV on October 1 meant they felt it impossible to re-register the hospital for use for the new providers. Speaking at the beginning of the meeting, Chris Brace, of the York People’s Assembly, urged a speedy resolution to the matter.

He said: “It’s a matter of public disgrace. The blame and counter blame by organisations responsible for this disaster is frankly pathetic.” He continued: “There has been no concern for the dignity of the people who require care and treatment in hospital or for their friends and families. We have been insulted... Life can sometimes mess people up, public bodies should never do so.”