A YORK councillor has asked for reassurances that the city’s residents will not be put at a disadvantage if patients from other areas of North Yorkshire are forced to use the new mental health hospital on Haxby Road.

Cllr Paul Doughty, chair of the council’s health scrutiny committee, attended a joint meeting with North Yorkshire County Council and Leeds City Council to hear about pressures facing mental health services.

The meeting heard that plans for a new mental health hospital in Harrogate were scrapped, meaning patients may be admitted in York. There are no plans to increase the number of beds.

Cllr Doughty said: “I have already spoken publicly of my concern should York residents need to be accommodated out of area, with the extra stress and inconvenience this causes. I asked for assurance from the chair of Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys Foundation NHS Trust that York residents will not be put at a disadvantage and sent to other distant locations... The chair gave a reply that there will always be a need to send some people out of area for specialised services. While he tried to give a positive response, I cannot regrettably take what he said as any such assurance.”