THE health watchdog in North Yorkshire will meet councillors from Leeds City Council and the City of York Council to discuss mental health services for the region.

A Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee on February 15, will see councillors from Leeds and York quiz mental health commissioners and providers about plans services for people in Harrogate, Wetherby and York.

The proposals will see mental health services move away from in-patient beds in the greater Harrogate area to a more community-based provision, and questions were raised at a previous meeting about how the transition from in-patient care in Harrogate to community-based care in the area, with some in-patient care in York or Darlington, would be managed.

Cllr Jim Clark, chair of the NYCC Scrutiny of Health Committee, said: "Our committee members understand that it is better to treat people in a community setting, close to where they live, rather than continue to admit people to in-patient units that do not meet their assessed need and which are outdated.

"There are genuine concerns, however, that the proposal to stop the development of a new mental health in-patient unit at Cardale Park in Harrogate, to close the beds at the Briary Wing at Harrogate District General Hospital and then move the money saved into community provision, may not have been fully thought through."

Cllr Clark also said it was important that "in-patient beds are available for those who need them, as close to their home as possible".