INSPECTORS have ordered a psychiatric NHS hospital in an 18th century building to be closed after part of the infirmary's ceiling fell on them as they investigated whether safety improvement work had been completed.

The Care Quality Commission said Bootham Park Hospital, in York, must shut on Wednesday (September 30), and all clinical services moved.

Leeds and York partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital launched in 1777 by the Archbishop of York to prevent mentally ill people being placed in prisons, has relocated about 30 patients on the acute admission wards to other hospitals.

The commission, which had previously found urgent safety improvements were needed, said an inspection earlier this month had concluded the hospital's patients faced poor hygiene and there were insufficient staff.

It said despite significant work having been undertaken to improve the grade I listed building, there were also serious environmental risks to patients on the older adults ward, excessive water temperatures, a lack of call alarms for patients, insufficient staffing numbers and poor infection control.

Chris Butler, the trust's chief executive, said it was hugely frustrating that the Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS Property Services work to improve the hospital had been subject to repeated delays.

He said the trust had raised concerns about the delays with the commission and the Secretary of State for Health, but now found itself in "a very difficult situation which is not of our making".

He said: "My colleagues and I are currently working out what we can do that's in patients' best interests and we are speaking to other providers in the region."