YORK'S new mental health hospital on Haxby Road will open TODAY - ahead of schedule.

Foss Park - a 72-bed hospital for patients with conditions including psychosis, severe depression or anxiety - was due to open later this month but is ready to open its doors a week early.

The £40.6m hospital is part of the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust.

Patients in Peppermill Court in York will be first to move into the new hospital - starting tomorrow.

People at Cherry Tree House, Meadowfields, Cedar and Rowan wards, Briary Wing at Harrogate District Hospital and some services currently at Huntington House in York will also be transfered.

Colin Martin, chief executive at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are delighted to announce that Foss Park, our new, purpose-built mental health hospital in York, will officially open ahead of schedule on Tuesday 21 April.

“This is an incredibly important milestone for communities in the Vale of York and across North Yorkshire, and forms part of a wider transformation of mental health services in this area.

“We started this project in 2016 and our aim has always been to build an innovative, cutting-edge hospital that provides the highest quality of care for our local communities. Importantly we also wanted to ensure that there was service user and carer involvement throughout the lifespan of the project.

“To get to this position, particularly with all of the current challenges, is an incredible achievement. The teams involved in this – both within our Trust and partner organisations - have worked extremely hard to make sure that the project ran to schedule, especially in these last few weeks, so we are hugely thankful to everyone involved.

“We will be holding a number of events, when we are able to, to celebrate the opening of Foss Park with services users, carers, the local communities, partners and our staff.”

Dr Nigel Wells, clinical chair at NHS Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said: “It’s fantastic news that the Foss Park facility is opening ahead of schedule and demonstrates the dedication from community partners and the NHS to ensure it could be done at this time.

“At the heart of this project were our service users, who will now benefit from the modern facilities, high quality care and pioneering services available at Foss Park to support them in managing their conditions.

“This is an important step in transforming mental health services for those who need them in our community.”