PATIENTS’ services in York need to be protected after it was revealed that the city’s NHS finance leaders have gone into special measures, councillors say.

Worried city councillors have asked questions about services in York, after the news of Vale of York CCG’s continuing money troubles broke on Thursday.

Now Cllr Carol Runciman, City of York Council’s executive member for health and adult social care has called for guarantees from the city’s new NHS bosses that patient care and treatment will not suffer because of the latest problems.

Vale of York is facing a £13 million end of year deficit, and along with other Yorkshire NHS bodies has to make savings under Government proposals.

Cllr Runciman added: “The challenge of delivering this saving whilst improving services for patients and properly tackling issues such as mental health is huge.

"We therefore urgently need a local CCG that is up to the job.”

York Central MP Rachael Maskell also said yesterday she had held an urgent discussion with NHS England and the CCG, following Thursday's bombshell.

She said York had been in a "perfect storm" of a number of NHS problems at the same time.

She said: “It is right that there is a complete review of what is happening at the Vale of York CCG. Today, I have raised the concerns I have had about leadership in addressing the health needs in York across all agencies responsible for delivering health services in the city, now and in the future.

“York has been at the centre of a perfect storm with the failings of the local mental health hospital at Bootham, serious cuts to public health and funding to support services by the local authority, and a sharp increase in the number of people accessing acute services.

"Now is the time for strong leadership to ensure that the right investment is placed in the right part of the NHS.

“The Health and Social Care Act 2012, introduced by the Conservative led coalition, is at the heart of the meltdown of health services with the lack of strategic oversight and accountability across the service. The Act led to the wrong financial drivers placed in the wrong part of the services, causing 80 per cent of Trusts to fall into a deficit.

"The other driver of the Act was ideological with the ambition to bring in the private sector to run services.

"The Act has catastrophically failed, and we are now paying a heavy price for this.

Dr Mark Hayes, the leader and accountable officer for the Vale of York CCG stood down on Thursday night, following the damning verdict from NHS England.

The CCG had been told it must appoint a new accountable officer.

Mr Hayes said his four years with the CCG had been the happiest of his career but said the challenge demanded "a new leader with a different skill set" to his.

Bootham Park Hospital closed last October, after an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.

Earlier this week, The Tees, Esk and Wear Valley (TEWV) NHS Trust, which is responsible for mental health services in York, told councillors it expected a replacement to cost £29 million. Several sites are being considered.