Glan Clwyd Hospital: Health board 'almost unmanageable'

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board is "on the brink of an absolute crisis" after a damning report claimed patients at a mental health unit were treated like animals.

Dr Eamonn Jessup, chairman of the North Wales local medical committee, said the health board was "almost unmanageable" with "different strands of problems".

He wants an independent inquiry.

It follows the report into practices at the Tawel Fan ward at Glan Clwyd Hospital, Bodelwyddan.

One family said it was like going into a zoo and seeing "captured animals".

Dr Jessup told BBC Radio Wales: "There are so many different strands of problems going through the organisation, whether it's resource, financial, human resource, it is very difficult to say."

He added: "I pray each time that it will be the last bad news story. But time and again, another one hits me between the eyes."

While he described the Tawel Fan report as "absolutely appalling", he said people needed to stop looking for someone to blame.

'Truly horrific care'

To move forward, he said the health board needed to look at "how and why?" these things keep happening.

Shadow Health Minister Darren Millar is calling for AMs to hold an urgent debate on the report when they return from their half-term break on Tuesday.

He said: "The problems must be rooted out, solutions found and guarantees provided that this can never happen again - anywhere in Wales."

The Older People's Commissioner for Wales, Sarah Rochira, said the report highlighted "a catalogue of shocking and unacceptable failures" in the care of some of our most vulnerable people.

She said it "almost defies belief" this happened within our NHS, adding: "Board members must also answer questions about whether they knew that this truly horrific care was taking place and if not, why not?

"It is particularly worrying that when concerns were raised about the care provided on the ward they appear to have been dismissed or not properly investigated, which led to failures to provide even the most basic standards of care, patients being treated without dignity and respect, and the human rights of some patients being violated."

Meanwhile, the health board has looked for a link between alleged mistreatment and premature deaths at the unit and said the findings will be made public once health officials have met with the families of patients affected.

It has apologised for the "inexcusable and unacceptable" treatment outlined in the report.

The ward was closed after concerns were raised in December 2013.

Eight members of nursing staff have been suspended on full pay and a "significant" number have also been transferred to other roles. Others, including managers, have been "stood down".

Following consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, North Wales Police has decided not to bring any charges in the case.

• Have you had a family member stay at the Tawel Fan ward? Get in touch: [e-mail] or via Twitter: @bbcwalesnews

The independent investigation found

• Patients nursed on the floor

• A lack of professional, dignified and compassionate care

• Unsupervised patients

• An environment which does not promote independence, resulting in restraint

• Regimes/routine/practice on the ward which may violate individual patients' human rights

The report's author, health specialist Donna Ockenden, found the concerns raised proven and said they amounted to "institutional abuse".

Ms Ockenden said families were still waiting for the health board to deal with two outstanding issues which were "put on ice" while the police investigation took place.

They are also waiting for the board to complete a promised "ward to board" review of how "this dreadful situation could have been allowed to happen", she said.

Ms Ockenden said "aggression and infighting" broke out between patients because the majority of staff time was spent in an office at the unit.

She told BBC Radio Wales: "Clearly there was a culture that had been allowed to fester over a long period of time. The staff thought they were invincible - they were never challenged.

"I think there was a lack of control, there was a lack of oversight by the very senior members of the team and the health board acknowledged that.

"Relatives regularly and over a long period of time raised their concerns verbally, via email, in writing, formal letters and everything went ignored for a very long period of time."

The independent report was commissioned by the health board, who decided not to publish it until police completed their investigation.

A photo of a soiled bed was taken by a family of one of the patients

In the report, families described seeing patients "constantly crawling on dirty floors" and being "like a zombie...drugged up".

A family told the report's author they found a relative in bed "in a pool of stale urine and it's so stale it was brown".

When they raised this issue, they were told: "Psychiatric nurses aren't very good at looking after physically ill people."

The health board's chief executive, Prof Trevor Purt, called the ward "the worst case" he has seen in his role while Angela Hopkins, director of nursing and midwifery, said it was "shameful".

The health board has set up an independent telephone line for anyone with concerns about mental health care at the Tawel Fan ward.