After the sudden closure of Bootham Park hospital and therefore cuts to vital mental health services in York, Mental Health Action York (MHAY) was formed. Working side by side with the People’s Assembly we organised a successful march and rally on May the 14th to increase awareness and express public support for the reinstatement of mental health services which were so suddenly and cruelly taken.
The March got a wide press coverage including ITV Calendar and BBC look north. We had some great speakers including Len McCluskey and York Central MP Rachel Maskell who said “It is so important that we are standing up for not just the one in four people who experience mental health challenges, but the one in one who could be affected by them. It’s vital that we put this marker down today that we need quality mental health facilities in York.” Also Bob Adams, a founder member of MHAY and a retired consultant psychiatrist spoke out and said “York has been particularly hit with the closure of Bootham Park Hospital when we lost all of our adult beds at just five days’ notice. We want to raise attention to this and make sure that the residents of York have a say in how services are developed in the future. In my time I have seen the peak of mental health services and now the decline, which is very bad.”
As People’s Assembly we wanted to say thank you to everyone who made this possible and let’s keep up the good fight.
York People's Assembly 