York City Council has approved an application for a new 72-bed mental health hospital for adults and older persons on the city’s Haxby Road, expected to be completed in 2019.
The impetus to build the hospital came following an October 2015 Care Quality Commission report which deemed an existing facility at York’s Bootham Park Hospital unsuitable for inpatient accommodation, with all beds relocated and the wards closed.
Leading the new-build project is P+HS Architects. Director, Derek Shepherd, said: “The closure of Bootham Park Hospital was immensely stressful for many people involved, and local people have shown concern and passion for mental health provision in York. This new facility will ensure that the highest levels of modern mental healthcare continue to be delivered within the Vale of York, within a safe, therapeutic environment. The new hospital’s design proposes to be sympathetic to the York vernacular, building on the views received during the extensive consultation with the local authority, service-users, carers, and clinical stakeholders.”
The hospital will have four 18-bed wards – comprising two adult single-sex wards and two older people’s wards (one for people with dementia, and one for people with mental health problems such as psychosis, severe depression. or anxiety). Funding and service provision will be provided by Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust.