HALLOWEEN fancy dress outfits featuring straitjackets and “psycho ward” references are offensive and damaging, a health boss has said.

The chief executive of the organisation, which provides mental health care in North-East England, urged people not to buy outfits which stigmatise patients.

Referring to costumes advertised on an online joke shop, John Lawlor, chief executive of Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, said people would never wear a “cancer patient” Halloween outfit, and they should not treat mental health issues so flippantly.