MENTAL health patients in York and North Yorkshire have given a glowing assessment of the care they received from the NHS in our region.

The 2011 Community Mental Health survey looked at 65 trusts across the UK and found that NHS North Yorkshire and York was above most other trusts in four of eight key categories, and about the same in the remaining four.

In one category, the trust scored nine out of ten for the quality of support provided by its health and social care workers.

John Clare, associate director of mental health services at NHS North Yorkshire and York, said the results underlined the trust’s belief that it offers “excellent mental health services across all its specialist areas”.

He said: “To improve the quality of services we deliver it is important to understand what service users think about their care and treatment.

“These results will be a boost for our hard-working staff – particularly as they were rated very highly indeed by service users in the survey.

“We will also use this valuable feedback to make sure we tackle any specific areas where there were concerns raised by service users so we can continue to improve.”

The survey was published by the Care Quality Commission, the independent regulator of health and adult social care services in England, and came after patients aged 16 and above were asked about their experiences during the period from July 1 last year to September 30.