Bootham Park judicial review is dropped

Former patients at the mental health facility had been granted permission for a judicial review at the High Court to challenge its closure.

Lawyers had said it would focus on the role of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in closing the hospital at short notice and unanswered questions about how the decision was made.

However, it has been confirmed the former patients behind the legal bid have dropped the judicial review as the CQC has made further new information available which addressed their concerns.

Yogi Amin, head of the public law team at Irwin Mitchell, said: “We were instructed to challenge the closure of Bootham Park by a number of former service users and were subsequently granted permission to proceed to a full judicial review.

“Our client’s concerns centred on the way the decision to close the facility was reached by the CQC and also the effect in the future if the hospital remains closed.

“There were a number of unanswered questions about how the decision was reached and also the very short period of time between the announcement and the closure of Bootham Park.

“However, after we were granted permission to bring a judicial review the CQC made further and new information available which addressed our clients concerns and as a result the case against the closure is now at an end.”

He said it was hoped public bodies realised the need for “better and more open consultation.”

Irwin Mitchell was yesterday unable to explain what the new information involved and The Press is awaiting clarity from the CQC.  

The closure of Bootham Park Hospital in 2015 left no inpatient NHS mental health hospital service in the area for a year.

A new replacement for Bootham Park Hospital is due to open by December 2019 on one of three sites: the existing Bootham site, Haxby Road or Clifton Park. An outline business case is expected to be completed by this March and presented to NHS bosses in May with a full business case ready for December.