HEALTH bosses are calling for extra cash to make up shortfalls in treating people with learning difficulties.

North Yorkshire Health Authority says there is a county-wide shortage of medical professionals who specialise in learning difficulties and has warned that the situation cannot improve without more funding.

The authority's director of planning, Penny Jones, said trained psychologists, therapists, specialist nurses and psychiatrists were in short supply.

Outlining the problems facing the county, in a report due to be considered at a meeting next week, Ms Jones said: "Across North Yorkshire there is no single register of all people with learning disabilities known to health and social services.

"National statistics suggest that there are likely to be about 3,000 children and adults with learning disabilities, but actual numbers may be higher because of local concentrations in York, due to the former long-stay hospitals, and Scarborough, because of Botton village."

She said: "All these individuals need good access to primary care and appropriate access to hospital and other services."

Ms Jones also said there was a lack of capacity in North Yorkshire hospitals to admit people needing short-term assessment and treatment.

"People who need longer term care frequently block the beds available, because of the intensity and complexity of their needs," she said.

"As a result, the people who need emergency admissions, because their current community-based package of care is breaking down, have to be admitted to placements outside North Yorkshire.

"These are not only expensive, counter to the premise of providing services locally wherever possible, but also increasingly difficult to find - especially in an emergency," she said.

The authority has identified freeing blocked beds in Harrogate and York, and providing additional assessment and treatment beds, as a major priority.

Poor access to health services for people with learning disabilities in North Yorkshire was highlighted in 1998, when a national report revealed the county spent the third lowest amount in the country on services.

A Government White Paper on services for people with learning disabilities is expected to be launched in the spring