THE father of a promising North Yorkshire student who killed himself after being diagnosed with schizophrenia has welcomed the appointment of an emergency psychiatric liaison at York Hospital.

Ben Papps killed himself at the age of 24 in 2009 following a sudden decline in his mental health. In June this year his father Gareth, 63, called for changes in the way psychiatric emergencies were admitted to York Hospital, to ensure seriously disturbed patients were not kept waiting for long periods in the accident and emergency department.

Now bosses at the hospital in Wigginton Road have announced they hope to extend their new Psychiatric Liaison Service from elderly patients to the emergency department.

Dr Alastair Turnbull, medical director for York Teaching Hospital Trust, said: “York Hospital has long aspired to provide a full Psychiatric Liaison Service, to provide mental health assessment and care for people who are admitted to hospital.

“Following recent constructive discussions with commissioners and others we are starting this service in the elderly department and hope soon to provide additional services in the emergency department.

“The Trust already has advanced nurse practitioners skilled in dealing with patients with alcohol and substance misuse.

“The new service is aimed at improving patient experience and outcomes, reducing length of stay, and reducing the number of hospital admissions.”

Mr Papps, of Stillington, said the hospital had “recognised there was a need” in A&E.

He said: “If someone breaks a leg they are going to be assessed and admitted to the hospital; it’s a whole different ball game when someone comes along in a psychotic state. They may not be admitted to York Hospital.

“You go through the rigmarole of A&E having to ring Bootham and then there’s a three or four hour wait with a distressed person.

“People with mental health problems, especially when they are on the books at Bootham, ought to be able to go along and get admitted.”

In a speech last month to the AGM of York Older Persons’ Assembly, Alan Rose, chairman of York Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said the “walls needed to come down” between the hospital and Bootham Hospital, the city’s main mental health facility.