Critics say lives have been put at risk by the closure of Bootham Park in York, with 30 patients having to be discharged or moved

The closure of York’s only public adult mental health hospital with just five days’ warning could put lives at risk and should be subject to both an independent inquiry and a judicial review, according to a local MP and lawyers representing patients.

Bootham Park hospital was closed suddenly in October last year after a critical report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the hospital regulator, forcing 30 inpatients to be discharged or relocated and affecting 400 outpatients.

Rachael Maskell, Labour MP for York Central, said patients had been badly let down by the health service and that Jeremy Hunt, the secretary of state for health, had failed to address a crisis in which vulnerable mental health patients had been left for months without local services.

The CQC said the building, built in 1777, posed a “significant risk” to inpatients, but critics of the decision to close it with such little notice say it could either have been repaired or shut at a later date once local replacement services had been arranged. There is speculation that Bootham Park, a Grade I-listed building with a chapel and grounds in central York, will now be sold off to private developers.

In an email exchange seen by the Guardian, one NHS trust boss said: “I think it is the first time an NHS hospital has been closed … in such a short period of time. Even Winterbourne View was not closed within four working days of the Panorama programme [showing abuse of vulnerable patients by staff] being broadcast.”

More than five months on, there are still no adult mental health beds in York. Outpatient services resumed at Bootham Park in February under considerable local pressure, but acute patients and their families have to travel at least 50 miles for inpatient care. There have been promises to build a new state-of-the-art hospital in the city but not until at least 2019; a smaller number of beds will be available in the summer at an interim facility, health bosses say.

Maskell said the abrupt closure was the result of mental health services being left in the hands of a tangle of statutory bodies none of which has overarching responsibility to ensure care to vulnerable patients. On Wednesday she will deliver a petition – currently with more than 8,000 signatories – to 10 Downing Street calling for an independent inquiry into Bootham Park’s closure, arguing that the NHS England inquiry already under way will not be sufficiently impartial.

Separately, lawyers representing the families of some former Bootham Park patients are seeking a judicial review of what they describe as a “forced closure”. If successful, it would be the first time a CQC decision to close a national hospital has been challenged in the high court.

“I’ve never seen a public institution of this size closed in such a short amount of time, and frankly such a mess in the way the decision was made,” said Yogi Amin, head of public law at Irwin Mitchell.

‘A place of safety’

One former patient, Sarah, 38, has spent half her adult life having spells as an inpatient in Bootham Park, where she has been sectioned 18 times since she was 17. “Bootham Park hospital has saved my life many, many times,” Sarah told the Guardian. “For me, it’s been a place of safety, a place of security.”

Sarah suffers life-threatening asthma attacks for which she has regularly required inpatient treatment at nearby York district hospital. The drug necessary to bring her asthma under control has the side-effect of triggering psychosis. Sarah said an admission to York district hospital inevitably meant a “trip next door to Bootham Park”.

Sarah said staff at both hospitals knew her well and would liaise closely to provide careful treatment. She is afraid that if her asthma were to get suddenly worse, her life would be at risk now the nearest adult mental health facility is 50 miles away in Middlesbrough.

“It would be absolutely disastrous because my family wouldn’t be able to come and see me. I wouldn’t know the staff,” Sarah said. “I think it would put my life at risk.”

Bootham Park was closed just months before a damning inquiry into the state of mental health care in the UK found that local bed shortages were forcing 500 severely ill patients to travel more than 30 miles to receive acute psychiatric care every month. There was a 39% reduction in acute mental health beds in the UK between 1998 and 2012. In 1987 York had three NHS mental health hospitals. It currently has none.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sarah says Bootham Park has saved her life ‘many, many times’. Photograph: Tom Silverstone/Guardian video



As a result of the 2012 Health and Social Care Act, responsibility for the running of Bootham Park has been split between a complex network of bodies, each now blaming others for the hospital’s summary closure.

On 9 and 10 September 2015, the independent NHS watchdog the CQC made an unannounced visit to Bootham Park, concerned that vital repairs requested in 2014 had not been made.

CQC inspectors found that in addition to historic problems with lines of sight and several points from which patients might hang themselves, there was a leaky toilet, scalding water running in one of the ward kitchens and a crack in the main hall ceiling.

On 24 September, the CQC wrote to Leeds and York Partnership trust (LYPFT) – the NHS trust contracted to provide services at Bootham Park until 1 October – saying it had until midnight on 30 September to remove the hospital’s 30 inpatients. A day later the CQC sent another letter to Tees Esk and Weir Valley (Tewv) – the NHS trust due to take over the running of the hospital – saying it would be unable to legally re-register the hospital, meaning it would have to close.

The Guardian has seen an exchange of emails between Martin Barkley, chief executive of Tewv, and David Behan, chief executive of the CQC. Barkley wrote early in the morning of 28th September: “I think it is the first time an NHS hospital has been closed … in such a short period of time.”

Barkley argues that a contract is ready to be signed committing to an investment of £2m for repairs.

Behan responds that Tewv can choose to invest in repairing Bootham Park but “there can be no guarantees that the CQC would register these services”. Tewv decided instead to spend £1m repurposing a smaller interim facility in York, and has promised a purpose-built facility by 2019.

Dr Paul Lelliott, the CQC’s executive, who oversaw the report of the inspection, said such closures were “very rare”; he said the body responsible was LYPFT, which had failed to make repairs requested by the CQC following a comprehensive inspection in 2014.“We found that Bootham Park hospital was not safe,” Dr Lelliott said.

If their case reaches the high court, lawyers at Irwin Mitchell will argue the CQC failed to use its powers of enforcement to make sure the necessary work to ensure patient safety was done.

LYPFT in a statement apologised to patients but said it was not responsible for the management of the building. “Due to the scale of the work that was required and complications in getting the landlord to undertake the work, we were, regrettably, unable to bring Bootham Park fully up to standards required by the CQC.”

Ruth Hill, Tewv’s director of operations for York and Selby, rejected the suggestion that patients have been caused unnecessary distress by being moved out of area. “What we’ve undertaken is a very careful clinical assessment of patients, in terms of where they need to go,” Hill said. “We’ve done a good turn by the people of York.”

The “landlord” is NHS Property Services – a private company with a sole shareholder, the secretary of state for health. The hospital was one of 3,600 NHS properties it was given to sell to raise revenue for the government if they become “surplus to NHS requirement”.

A sculpture outside Bootham Park. Jo, Sarah’s sister and carer, said: ‘It says the trees come together to create a sculpture that represents hope and optimism. It promotes a sense of life, recovery and a positive future. It’s exactly what I think Bootham was.’ Photograph: The Guardian

NHS Property Services said of Bootham Park in a statement: “If it is eventually declared unsuitable or surplus to clinical requirements, our role would be to secure best market value from sale so that funds can be reinvested.”

The legal firm Irwin Mitchell has focused its case against three main defendants: the CQC and the two NHS trusts contracted to provide services at the hospital, listing NHS Property Services as an interested party. They argue that the failure to consult patients or their carers, hospital staff or even the local police was unlawful.

Dr Bob Adams worked as a senior consultant clinical psychiatrist at Bootham Park for 24 years. “My first thought was: where the hell are they going to put all these people?” he said. “The tragedy with Bootham is that they came and closed it and there was absolutely nothing wrong with the care.”

Maskell, the York Central MP, said that neither Hunt nor his minister for mental health, Alistair Burt, had agreed to meet her to discuss Bootham Park’s closure. “The crux of my inquiry is who has overarching responsibility for patient safety in the NHS? To date it seems that nobody takes that responsibility. Clearly, it should be the secretary of state,” Maskell said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jo, Sarah’s sister and her primary carer, is campaigning to get Bootham Park reopened. Photograph: Tom Silverstone/Guardian video

Sarah and her sister Jo said Bootham Park’s closure had already had a profound impact on their lives. Jo is Sarah’s primary carer and has dedicated herself to trying to find out why Bootham Park hospital was closed and is campaigning to get it reopened. “We have lost our voice – we just don’t have a say. You wouldn’t just close the York District and not tell anybody. Is this because it’s to do with mental health?” Jo said. “It’s no wonder people are absolutely devastated and want answers.”