Health secretary Jeremy Hunt asked to find buyer for Clayton Hospital by MP Mary Creagh

Wakefield’s Labour MP Mary Creagh has asked Tory frontbencher Jeremy Hunt if he can help find a buyer for Clayton Hospital.

The site on Northgate, has been boarded up since Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust moved services out of the building 2012.

In January 2014 200 people turned up to a ghost hunt at the 19th century site, on Northgate, after rumours it was haunted circulated on social media.

Police made four arrests and warned that the site was not safe and there was been constant vandalism at the site.

At the time, Insp Ian Williams said: “We have found used needles and evidence that fires have been lit there.”

Ms Creagh said she had been concerned by reports of the site being broken into.

In a letter to Mr Hunt, she said: “I would be grateful if you can confirm what assistance you are providing to Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust to help them identify a buyer for this site and also what you are doing to ensure that the existing building is kept safe and secure.”

Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust was in talks with Wakefield Grammar School Foundation over a potential sale of the hospital.

Iain Brodie, Mid Yorkshire’s general facilities manager, said: “We appreciate concerns surrounding the Clayton Hospital site and we are doing all we can to secure a sale of the building as quickly as possible.

“In the meantime we are liaising with specialists to see how we can deter and detect intruders by boosting security around the site and increasing patrols on evenings and weekends.”

Clayton Hospital has been derelict since the last NHS services were moved out three years ago.

The hospital was founded in 1854 and was named after Thomas Clayton, a former city mayor and wealthy philanthropist, donated buildings to the Wakefield General Dispensary, an organisation set up to provide healthcare for the poor.

After 1948 it became part of the newly-formed National Health Service and NHS services were provided there until 2012.