A soon to be closed hospital has been chosen as the venue to host a new gym service for people with mental health problems.

High Royds Hospital, Menston, is set to close in spring 2003 but this week a new gym initiative was launched there.

The new gym service has been set up by Leeds Mental Health Teaching NHS Trust for people with mental health problems.

It aims to provide physical activity programmes for adults in a safe and supportive environment.

Senior physiotherapist Liz Woodthorpe is responsible for setting up the new scheme.

"The benefits of exercise on mental well-being are well documented," she said.

"Exercise helps to improve the mood, increase self-esteem and decrease levels of anxiety and depression."

The gym will have state-of-the-art equipment and will be serviced by a team of specialist fitness staff. The service is only available to in-patients at the moment, but hospital chiefs believe it has the potential to be used as a community venue in the future.

The senior physiotherapist set up the gym service after visiting a similar exercise-based therapy service in Cumbria.

She saw the positive effects that exercise was having on service users and built on their experiences to develop a modern service for Leeds.

"In setting up this service we have put a lot of time and effort into transforming how mental health care is delivered in Leeds to make it genuinely modern and service user focused," she added.

The move to open a new gym comes as the hospital is on the verge of being sold and closed down.

There are currently discussions on where to send the patients when the hospital closes.