Mental health care for adolescents in Ebbw Vale closed

Hillview Hospital in Ebbw Vale, Blaenau Gwent, had to stop providing adolescent mental health services

Adolescent mental health care has been suspended at a private hospital treating young women.

An unannounced inspection of Hillview Hospital in Ebbw Vale, Blaenau Gwent, raised several concerns including about recording of patient restraints.

Wales' children's commissioner said the resulting report was "damning" and "young people deserve better".

Elysium Healthcare, operator since September 2022, said patient safety and wellbeing was its "highest priority".

Welsh government said helping young people with their mental health was an "absolute priority" adding that it had spent £50m on services such as helplines and counselling for young people.

BBC Wales previously exposed excessive use of restraints and poor practice at the hospital.

The previous hospital owners, Regis Healthcare, denied all allegations and said Hillview was one of the UK's most "successful" services.

• Girl traumatised by hospital restraints, says dad

• 'Excessive use of restraint at child unit'

Following the change of hands, Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) said it continued to engage with Elysium to ensure that "progress was being made against the previous inspection findings".

In January, Elysium Healthcare gave notice the adolescent service would be closing in March and patients would be moved to alternative settings.

The firm's intention is to open an adult-only service on the site.

'Detrimental impact on wellbeing'

HIW said it had concerns about the progress and undertook an inspection in May while four patients, commissioned from England, continued to receive care at the facility.

"The service was not meeting care needs in line with the requirements of its registration, and this was having a detrimental impact on the wellbeing of the patients," it said.

Lack of detailed recording around the amount and duration of restraints being carried out on patients and a lack of opportunities to go outside for fresh air were some of the points noted.

Improvement was required to fire risk assessment plans and staff had little training in relation to immediate life support, it added.

HIW used its urgent enforcement powers to close the hospital. Alternative placements were found for the four remaining patients, and the service had no residents by early June.

Alun Jones, chief executive of HIW, said the failures were "very disappointing".

"The number and severity of patient safety issues was of concern and HIW took the decision to urgently suspend the setting," he said.

"Despite the setting ceasing its care provision to young people, we will continue to engage with Elysium Healthcare in regard to their future plans."

The regulator noted some improvements had been made since previous inspections in 2021 and 2022.

These included the safeguarding and handling of complaints, the standard of patient care plans and staff working collaboratively and supporting dignity and privacy where possible.

Children's Commissioner for Wales, Rocio Cifuentes, said mental health provision for young people in Wales had been a concern for "a number of years" and called for a "clear roadmap" from the Welsh government on its intended solutions.

"Critically, we are without a dedicated secure therapeutic setting for children and young people who require specialist mental health support in Wales," she said.

"Young people and their families deserve better and I will be raising again with government what their short-term plan is to make sure there is support available in Wales, fit for children in Wales, and second, with inspectors for clarity about why a setting has been allowed to operate for so long when the same failings were apparent for several years."

Children's commissioner Rocio Cifuentes says "young people deserve better" when it comes to mental health provision

Elysium Healthcare said it welcomed scrutiny from HIW.

"Hillview no longer provides services for younger people and is currently undergoing a process of total refurbishment as we prepare to reopen as an adult-only service for people from Wales," it said.

"Hillview remains a much-needed mental health hospital for Wales and we look forward to providing greater and more specialised support for people in the years ahead."

The Welsh government said it took the findings "extremely seriously".

"We have robust mechanisms in place to monitor and provide assurance on the quality and safety of independent mental health hospitals and this service is now closed," they said.

Welsh Conservative health spokesperson, Russell George MS, said the identified failures were "incredibly concerning".

"Labour's focus must now be on ensuring the facility can address the issues raised, and is able to reapply for registration, to ensure the best level of care is available for future patients of Hillview Hospital," he said.

The Welsh government said: "Protecting young people's mental health is an absolute priority for us and we work with partners to ensure there is a wide range of effective support available including in-hospital care and treatment.

"We have also invested an extra £50m this year on prevention and early intervention measures, such as school counselling, our CALL helpline and providing crisis support for young people.

"We will shortly be publishing a longer term strategy for delivering further improvements to specialist mental health services across Wales."