Patients ‘have had no hot water for two weeks’

PATIENTS at an £88m mental health hospital have been unable to wash themselves with hot water for the past two weeks due to a major problems with their boiler, it has been revealed.

Hafan y Coed, based at University Hospital Llandough, was built two years ago and was designed to offer a “therapeutic and recovery-focused environment” for patients.

It was built to replace the dilapidated Whitchurch Hospital site which had fallen into a poor state of disrepair.

But for the past fortnight the new multimillion-pound facility has been repeatedly left without any hot water – forcing acutely ill and often suicidal inpatients to endure cold showers.

A husband of one of the patients said he was deeply concerned at how this was affecting his wife’s mental health.

“How this can happen at a brand new hospital is beyond me,” he said.

“My wife has been there for the past two weeks and not been able to clean herself properly. It has really got her down.

“This cannot be good for the patients’ personal hygiene or their mental health. It’s not like my wife can just leave the facility. She desperately needs to stay there to get their support.

“To not have hot water for two weeks is just unacceptable. The nurses even encouraged me to make a formal complaint.”

Hafan y Coed, which means “Haven of Trees” and was officially opened in March 2016, has 135 bedrooms with en-suite facilities.

It houses a psychiatric intensive care ward, an addiction ward, and supports people in a mental health “crisis”.