A YORK MP has hit out at the sale of a former mental health hospital and claims more could have been done to retain the building for the community.

Rachael Maskell, MP for York Central, said the sale of the Grade 1 listed historic Bootham Park Hospital, the estate cottages, gate lodge, outbuildings and open parkland is “frustrating”.

NHS Property Services, which owns the building, is welcoming unconditional offers for the property and says it will put the funds raised from the sale back into the NHS.

She said: “At the very least I believe NHS England should turn the space in to a community park. Instead we have been told the proceeds from the sale of Bootham Park will be used to bail out the Government’s funding crisis in the NHS.”

The move to put Bootham Park Hospital on the market will likely see it sold to the highest bidder, as set out under the Government’s Naylor Report.

Ms Maskell added: “The Secretary of State for Health is the single shareholder of NHS Property Services, who at the same time has determined that the NHS Estate should be sold off to the highest bidder under the Naylor Report.

“However, the Naylor Report is supposed to ensure that the NHS make the best use of its estate to support England’s Five Year Forward Plan and optimise the use of land and buildings. I fail to see how selling Bootham Park to a private developer achieves this. Before Naylor is formally put into statute, there is no guarantee that this money will even come to York.”

Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, which runs mental health services in York, has already had their plans approved for a new 72-bed mental health hospital on Haxby Road, and it could open in 2019.