A leading North-East psychiatrist has criticised the lack of NHS hospital places for adults with autism.

The criticisms came as a new private hospital for autism sufferers prepares to open this week.

Dr Tom Berney, who runs one of the few in-patient adult autism units in the country, voiced concerns at a conference in County Durham. He also revealed that his own unit may be under threat.

The gathering of UK autism experts was a curtain raiser to the opening of a new 19-bed private hospital for adults with autism at Newbus Grange, near Darlington next week.

While welcoming any additional provision for patients, Dr Berney said the NHS should be providing long-term care to those with more severe autism.

"We have a problem. Apart from our unit there are only three other NHS specialist inpatient centres. One is in Exeter, which is closing, one is in Bristol and one is in Birmingham," he added.

The psychiatrist, who is clinical lead for the autism service at Northgate and Prudhoe NHS Trust in Morpeth, Northumberland, said he was constantly turning away new referrals.

"I get phone calls from all over. We have people here from Scotland and Wales."

Despite the shortage of places he revealed that the future of the Morpeth unit was uncertain.

"There is a debate going on whether we should continue," he added.

Autism is a serious developmental condition which affects more than half a million people in the UK.

Sufferers typically have difficulty in making sense of the world.

The Government's emphasis on providing care in the community rather than in hospitals was right for most patients but not for all, said Dr Berney.

"There is a group of people who are so fragile or so violent that they need to be well supervised. Staff need to be able to call in additional help immediately," he added.

"My own sense is that the NHS should continue to provide for those people rather than sending them off to a private carer," he added.

Eileen Hopkins, from the National Autistic Society, said: "We agree with Tom Berney's concerns. Across the spectrum of need there is a shortage of provision."

Professor Paul Shattock, director of the autism unit at Sunderland University, said: "I am worried about what is happening too. Shifting people into the private sector will be a cheap option in the short term but incredibly expensive in the long term.

Dr Jonathan Mann, a consultant psychiatrist with Castlebeck Care, the operators of the new private hospital, said most referrals to the unit would come from the NHS or social services.

The former manor house would provide "peace and calm" for residents, he added.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "Under the present system it is for the local NHS and social services to plan and arrange the services available to people in their area, as they are closest to the people they serve."