FIRMS and organisations responsible for the building of a £75m mental health hospital look set to be grilled over a spectrum of defects, including serious safety concerns, which have appeared less than eight years after it opened.

Darlington Borough councillor Wendy Newall, chair of the Tees Valley Health Scrutiny Committee, said a ‘task and finish’ group would be launched to address concerns that defects at the 365-bed Roseberry Park, Middlesbrough were impacting on vulnerable patients.

Twenty-eight different types of defects, ranging from heating and contaminated soil to water mains access and CCTV, have been identified since the hospital opened in 2010 and in 2016 ‘serious safety concerns’ were declared.

Most recently, urgent repairs to fire safety systems were required resulting in the relocation of some patients from Roseberry Park to Sandwell Park in Hartlepool.

The hospital was built under a Private Finance Initiative, which featured 150 contracts, and involved firms including Laing O’Rourke and Carillion.

When it opened Dr Nick Hand, medical director of Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust, said: “In terms of the quality of services, the physical environment is really important, and we can be really proud of the physical environment we have here at Roseberry Park.”

At a meeting of the committee at Darlington Town Hall, Redcar and Cleveland councillor Ian Jeffrey described the hospital’s situation as “an absolute lash-up” and said the public needed answers.

The meeting was told surveys of the hospital buildings and court action over liability were ongoing.

Cllr Newall said while progress in calling those responsible to account had stalled as the committee was not empowered to hold inquiries, it would launch a ‘task and finish group’ to do so.

After the meeting, Cllr Jeffrey said construction firms needed to explain what their role had been and what they intend to do.

He said: “These people it would seem have constructed a building that is not fit for purpose.

“There is an urgency that needs to be applied as the public need to know and are entitled to know what’s been going on and how quickly it’s going to be put right, so that relatives can assured that their loved ones are being cared for appropriately and in the establishment that is designed to do that for them.”