Last Friday Julian Sturdy, Member of Parliament for York Outer, visited York’s new mental health centre, Huntington House, to look around the site and speak to staff about the services they will be offering to local residents.
Based at Jockey Lane in Huntington, the centre opened its doors last month, after the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, the body that provides the city’s mental health services, relocated its community mental health team here from Bootham Park last month. This was done with the aim of improving access to services for patients.
Huntington House will be home to around 250 NHS staff arranged in 9 clinical teams. These will include crucial services like the early intervention in psychosis and dementia teams, and the memory service.
Speaking after the visit, Mr Sturdy said: “I was very pleased by everything I saw at Huntington House. The new facilities are excellent, and I was impressed with the enthusiasm and dedication of the staff.
In addition to services like Huntington House, it is also vital that our city gets a new mental health hospital to fully replace Bootham Park. The current plan is to deliver a new facility off Haxby Road in south Huntington by 2019, with more bed places than at Bootham, and I will be keeping a close watch on developments to ensure this remains on track.”