Since it was closed in September of last year, patients of Bootham Park adult mental health unit in York have been travelling 50 miles to Roseberry Park in Middlesbrough to receive medical care.  The unit was closed very suddenly in September following an unannounced visit by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) when it was found that patients were at “significant risk of harm”.  The unit was given five days to close its doors, and since hundreds of vulnerable patients have been left with no assurances about their future care.  Bootham Park was York’s only psychiatric hospital.

An NHS trust has been fined after it was discovered that basic errors caused the deaths of four patients. The trust that previously ran Stafford Hospital, Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, admitted four charges relating to the deaths of elderly people between 2005 and 2014.  Where the trust was originally fined £500,000 for the “blunders”, the Department of Health has agreed to cover the fine, and additional £35,000 in costs, seeing as the trust is now defunct and has no funds.