A PSYCHIATRIC ward in York is facing sudden closure.

The closure of one of the four wards at Clifton House was confirmed by Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LYPFT), the same trust that ran Bootham Park Hospital until its sudden closure over safety concerns a year ago.

The ward has closed due to a staff shortage and to ensure patient safety, a spokesman from LYPFT said, and it was hoped it may be able to re-open in April.

It is understood a Care Quality Commission (CQC) report into the trust following an inspection is due to be released next week.

However, the CQC is not believed to have ordered the closure of Westerdale Ward.

An inspection report released by the CQC last year was critical of the trust, saying it required improvement and describing a "tale of two cities" in which services in York were inferior to Leeds.

A spokesperson for LYPFT said as a result of an ongoing staff shortage, the trust has agreed with NHS England to temporarily close one of its wards.

Affected patients are being moved to other facilities, and all patients and their families have been informed of the temporary closure, they said.

Clifton House is home to about 20 men and 20 women in separate wards.

The hospital unit underwent about £10 million worth of work in 2014.

At the time, many of its patients had conditions including depression, schizophrenia and personality disorders.

Many had recently been released from prison.

Tom Mullen, clinical director for specialist and learning disability services at LYPFT said: “We appreciate that this is potentially unsettling news for service users and staff, but the Trust and NHS England strongly believe that the temporary closure is the right thing to do in terms of safety, quality and service user experience.

“The temporary closure provides us with an opportunity to accelerate the planned refurbishment and improvements to the ward environment, and will allow us to continue to work on an extensive recruitment programme.”

Bootham Park Hospital closed by October 1, 2015.

At the time of the closure, LYPFT said the closure could have been avoided if improvement work at Bootham Park had been completed in the timeframes agreed by the York Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), however an independent investigation found every NHS organisation involved was to blame in some way.

It found that LYPFT "did not take responsibility for the building at the commencement of its contract" and "lost focus on safe service provision during the process and outcome of re-contracting".