A RENOWNED psychiatric hospital in York has revealed several dramatic twists in its plans for the future.

The Retreat, which has been proposing to close its four inpatient services, may now sell two of them - which treat eating disorders and complex trauma - to another family-run organisation ‘with similar values,’ potentially allowing staff and patients to remain in place.

The Retreat, based in Heslington Road and founded in 1796, announced in April it was proposing to close its inpatient service due to the ‘significant impact’ of Government funding changes, but said it was looking at the option of expanding supported living services and domiciliary care.

Chief executive Cathy Waters told The Press this week that it had been exploring partnership opportunities including the potential acquisition of its inpatient adult services.

“If successful, we are hopeful that this will provide continuity of care for our patients and significantly reduce the level of potential redundancies,” she said.

But she said the Retreat’s board had also decided not to press ahead with the mooted expansion of the supported living service, citing ‘financial challenges’ and difficulties registering the service.

She said this had led to significant doubt about its long term sustainability, and the board had decided instead to withdraw from providing it by the end of December, putting staff at risk.

She said the board had also:

*ruled out developing a residential care service for people with complex dementia and enduring mental health needs, saying the ‘barriers are too great’.

*decided to press ahead with expanding outpatient services at the Tuke Centre, including a well established autism and ADHD service.

She said:“We have been working hard to build a sustainable future for the organisation and whilst there is some hope, we have unfortunately experienced a number of significant barriers, which has led us to make some difficult decisions.” She expected a final decision on the hospital’s future next month.