YORK’S new mental health hospital will open four months later than originally planned and the budget has gone up by £8 million, councillors have heard.

The health trust which runs mental health services in York - Tees Esk and Wear Valley (TEWV) - spoke to city councillors on a health scrutiny committee on Wednesday night.

Project manager Martin Dale told them of the time and budget changes, saying that after the plans were first published TEWV had looked carefully at the scheme to make sure proposals would meet clinical needs and “be exactly what we need as a modern purpose-built in-patient facility.”

Reviewing the costs and planned designs has resulted in some changes to non-clinical areas, he added, and that work has taken time and caused a delay in the project.

When the project was first launched in 2016 it had a budget of £29 million before the land price, he said, but costs now stand at £37 million including VAT, fees and the purchase of the land.

An initial move-in date for patients has been put back from December 2019 to April 2020, Mr Dale added.

Ruth Hill TEWV’s director of operations for York and Selby, told the committee project managers had built contingencies into the plans from now on, and were comfortable with the timetable.

The trust will continue to challenge its builders on the schedule to make sure that delays can either be corrected or reported back to the health committee, she added, and people will see diggers on the Haxby Road site by the end of July.

Ms Hill said: “We are confident we will be able to meet the timeline.”

The trust bosses also told councillors about recruitment plans, saying they are already working on creative ways of dealing with staffing troubles including things like post-graduate internships and volunteers.

However, they said they hope a brand new hospital with strong research and development opportunities will be more attractive to staff, helping reduce some of the recruitment problems they have faced.