HEALTH chiefs have cleared a major hurdle in their aim to revamp a York psychiatric hospital.

NHS North Yorkshire and York has won planning permission from City of York Council to carry out a refurbishment of three wards at the historic Bootham Park Hospital, needed to bring it into line with 21st-century standards.

The project at the hospital, which treats people with mental health difficulties, aims to end mixed-sex wards and increase the privacy of those who are cared for at the 18th-century listed building, as well as allowing it to meet Department of Health guidelines.

It will now go forward to the Government to be rubber-stamped, and the primary care trust hopes the modernisation programme can be completed later in the year.

Janet Probert, managing director of North Yorkshire and York Community and Mental Health Services, said: “I can now confirm that the refurbishment scheme for wards 1 and 2 at Bootham Park Hospital has now received planning permission from City of York Council.

However, as a Grade I-listed building, the proposal will now need to be sanctioned by the Secretary of State and this will take a minimum of four weeks. We are really pleased to have now received planning permission, as this is a significant step forward for this exciting and positive project.

“Modernising the building will make such a huge difference for all our service users and staff and we’re now looking forward to the completion date later in the year.”

Documents submitted to the council on behalf of the trust as part of the application said the current condition of wards 1 and 2 and the building’s facilities for mothers and their babies did not meet health requirements, and work had to be done to make these areas usable.

A series of reviews into the state of Bootham Park concluded that the lack of previous financial investment in its infrastructure, its age and the restrictions which come with its listed status made providing modern healthcare difficult.