Harrogate’s mental health crisis team is still operating out of Ripon, two years after health bosses closed the town’s Briary unit.

Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, which runs mental health services for the district, moved the team to The Orchards at Ripon following the closure of the Briary unit at Harrogate District Hospital in May 2020.

The crisis team provides specialist inpatient care for adults and children with mental health problems who may otherwise need to go to hospital.

The 29 staff were relocated after managers were unable to find alternative accommodation in Harrogate.

At the time, health bosses said the move was a short term solution until a new base in Harrogate was found.

The Stay Ferret asked the mental health trust whether a new base had been identified for the crisis team and if it had returned to face-to-face consultations.

A spokesperson for Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust said:

“Following the transformation work associated with adult and older adult mental health services, there was a requirement for services other than hospital liaison to move out of Harrogate District Foundation Trust.  

“In the planning of this, the adult and children’s crisis teams were accommodated at the Ripon community base at The Orchards from May 2020, as the crisis team coverage included Harrogate, Ripon and the rural district areas. The crisis team continues to operate from their own office spaces in Ripon.”

They added:

“Because of the nature of the crisis and home-based treatment team, the way we met the needs of patient and carers did not change, in that, we retained face-to-face contact throughout covid balanced with telephone or video contacts, depending on patient choice and level of need as we had done before.”

Read more:

• Harrogate needs mental health crisis team ‘at earliest opportunity’
• Harrogate families describe anguish of mental health problems and impact of Briary Unit closure
• Bilton man says government is failing young people with mental health issues

In March 2021, health bosses told the Stray Ferret that the team needed to return at the “earliest opportunity”.

When the Briary Wing closed in April 2020, inpatient mental health services transferred to York.

North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group, which buys medical services for the county, said the transfer of inpatient beds “released £500,000”, which could be invested in community mental health services.

Have you been affected by this change in mental health services? Get in touch at contact@thestrayferret.co.uk

North Yorkshire County Council is in talks to buy land previously earmarked for a mental health facility at Cardale Park, Harrogate.

The council confirmed it has set money aside to purchase land at the site, which is owned by Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust.

The land had previously been given approval for a 36-bed mental health facility, following the closure of Harrogate District Hospital’s Briary Unit, which helped adults with mental illness.

However, those plans were dropped in 2019 and inpatients on the unit were sent to Foss Park Hospital in York instead.

Read more:

• New base for Harrogate mental health crisis team yet to be found
• How did we get here? The closure of Harrogate’s Briary Unit is a story of political debate and debt

Dale Owens, assistant director for commissioning and quality at the county council, said:

“We have agreed that funding set aside for extra care will be used to purchase land at Cardale Park to assist with social care market development in the Harrogate area.

“Different options will be considered before detailed plans are brought forward. A separate report will be brought to the executive in due course seeking approval for any final plans.

“Discussions are ongoing about the purchase and further details will also be brought to the executive.”

Cllr Jim Clark, a Conservative councillor who sits on the West Yorkshire Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Panel to represent North Yorkshire, told the Stray Ferret he was pleased the site was going to be used.

He said:

“It is important that this site is used for the benefit of local people.

“I would have preferred it to be a mental health facility, but I am glad that it is going to be used for assisted housing for people instead.”

The trust, which runs mental health services in Harrogate, has relocated services following the closure of the Briary Wing.

The unit’s mental health crisis team moved to The Orchards in Ripon last year.

Despite assurances that the move was not a “long term solution”, the trust has yet to find a new base for the service.

Health bosses have yet to find a new base for Harrogate’s mental health crisis team, despite conceding that it had to return “at the earliest possible opportunity”.

Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, which runs mental health services for the district, moved the team to The Orchards at Ripon following the closure of the Harrogate District Hospital’s Briary Unit in April.

Adult and children crisis teams support people with mental health problems who may otherwise need to go to hospital.

Officials relocated the team, which includes 29 staff, after they were unable to identify alternative accommodation in Harrogate. They said the move was a short-term solution and that work was underway to find a new site.

At a North Yorkshire Health Scrutiny meeting in December, trust managers conceded that the move “cannot be sustained in the long term” and that it had to return “at the earliest possible opportunity”.

Read more:

• Harrogate needs mental health crisis team ‘at earliest opportunity’
• Harrogate families describe anguish of mental health problems and impact of Briary Unit closure

However, the trust has now said it intends to explore requirements for a new site “in the near future”.

Naomi Lonergan, director of operations for North Yorkshire and York at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, said:

“We intend to explore our requirements for a new location for our Harrogate mental health crisis services in the near future, which will include discussions with our stakeholders and partners.

“It remains our priority to offer face-to-face contact and see people who need crisis interventions in their homes or as close to home as possible. Although the crisis team has been relocated to Ripon, most people accessing the services can still do so in the Harrogate area.

“We continue to use rooms in the Harrogate community bases to enable face-to-face contact and we are also offering attend anywhere virtual consultations where clinically appropriate.”

Harrogate District Hospital’s Briary Wing, which offered specialist inpatient care for people suffering with mental health problems, closed in April.

Inpatient mental health services transferred to York.

North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group, which buys medical services for the county, said the transfer of inpatient beds “released £500,000”, which could be invested in community mental health services.

Have you been affected by this change in mental health services? Get in touch at contact@thestrayferret.co.uk

Family members of people treated in Harrogate’s Briary Unit say they are deeply concerned about the impact of closing the town’s only mental health inpatient facilities. 

With inpatients now set to be sent to York, and other support moved into the community, people who have seen their closest relatives go through very distressing episodes of mental illness want to help others understand why having the hospital nearby can ease the pressure on them. 

Rachael, who asked us not to use her full name, said she worried about the additional stress placed on families by the closure of the mental health treatment centre after her daughter was treated in Middlesbrough over Christmas. 

Her daughter, who turns 25 in May, has been sectioned under the Mental Health Act four times in the last six years. Now diagnosed with bipolar disorder, she was last admitted to the Briary Wing in December. 

“I had gone to see her at home,” said Rachael.

“She was behaving very worryingly – I was so horrified. She had been so stridently adamant that she didn’t want to go to hospital again. I felt completely paralysed.” 

It was a Saturday night, making it harder for Rachael to access the usual support services. Fortunately, her daughter eventually called the police. 

Rachael said the two officers who arrived had never seen anyone going through a psychotic episode before and were shocked by the reality of it, but stayed with them until an ambulance arrived. Her daughter was admitted to the Briary Unit, but transferred to Middlesbrough where she was treated for the next three weeks. 

“Partly they said it was to put her in more intensive care where they have got a higher staff ratio, but really I think there were no beds in the Briary,” said Rachael. “I never saw a consultant in all the visits I made. They said she might get transferred back but it never happened.” 

‘Triple unfamiliarity’

Now the Briary Wing has been closed, patients from the Harrogate district requiring inpatient treatment will go to the new Foss Park Hospital in York. Tees, Esk and Wear Valley (TEWV) NHS Trust, which provides mental health services in the Harrogate district, says it will also step up community-based care to prevent people needing to stay in hospital and to cut down the length of time they are there.

The new Foss Park Hospital in York

 Rachael believes the extra travel to York – or further afield if beds are in high demand – will add unnecessary stress to very difficult situations for patients and families. 

“I was very lucky that it so happened the weather was amazingly calm. Doing that in the middle of the winter when you are stressed out and want to find your way around, it’s not great – being plunged into triple unfamiliarity.” 

For Jane, a combination of difficulties with travel and the current coronavirus limitations mean that she is unable to see her husband, who is currently being treated at Foss Park Hospital. Although it is a new hospital with modern facilities, Jane said the whole situation would be made much easier if he were still in Harrogate:

“I don’t drive, so even if I was allowed to visit him, I couldn’t get there. We’ve been together for 10 years and we haven’t left each other’s side. Not being able to visit is making him worse.” 

Structure and routine

Jane’s husband was sectioned for the first time last week, after six months of struggling with his mental health following difficulties with bullying at work. The coronavirus lockdown caused further strain, leaving him without the structure and routine that helps him to manage. 

After several days of treatment, he is now preparing to come back home and Jane is keen that he has enough support in place to stop him deteriorating again. He had been receiving outpatient treatment at the Briary Unit over the last six months, but it was when that support was removed that he became severely unwell. Jane added: 

“We really do need the Briary Unit. It’s so badly needed in Harrogate. Mental health is becoming more of a problem here.” 

For Rachael, the reducing level of care available is a constant worry too. Her daughter is inconsistent with taking medication and attending psychiatry appointments, so Rachael feels another episode of psychosis is inevitable – especially as she does not believe her daughter has yet accepted her diagnosis. 

Now, Rachael can only wait and see whether – or when – her daughter begins to show the warning signs again: 

“There’s nothing done. When you are afraid someone’s working themselves up into mania, there’s nothing to be done. You are sitting on the sidelines almost going mad yourself, waiting for it to become a crisis. 

“It’s incredibly distressing. Somebody who’s so talented and you try your best and it’s not enough. I can’t live her life for her.”