Patients will be safe, despite refusal for new unit

MENTAL health patients in a building labelled “unfit for purpose” by a health watchdog will be safe despite outline planning permission being denied for its “flagship” replacement.

A £64m replacement for Ysbyty Glan Clwyd’s Ablett mental health unit in Bodelwyddan would have contained 64 beds and taken inpatients from Colwyn Bay’s Bryn Hesketh unit.

Despite Betsi Cadwaladr launching a full public consultation on the plans it misjudged the strength of feeling among residents of nearby Ffordd Parc y Castell, who complained proposals for the two- and three-storey building would affect their privacy and visual amenity.

Earlier this month Denbighshire council’s planning committee agreed and refused outline planning permission for the new unit, which would have included a new multistorey car park and turned the old unit into an admin block.

Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) was critical of conditions on the unit in reports dating back to 2014. In its 2018 study of the Ablett, HIW chief executive Dr Kate Chamberlain said: “We identified a number of issues that, taken together, we believe represent a risk to patient safety.”

Then director of mental health, Andy Roach, said the board was “fully aware” of the “structural issues” on the unit and said plans were being drawn up for a “significant redevelopment programme” – the one rejected by councillors this month.

Teresa Owen, Betsi’s current director of mental health, said staff were continuing to “do everything they can to provide safe and effective care for patients” despite the “well documented” problems with the building.

She said: ““Following the decision from Denbighshire council’s planning committee, we will be considering our next steps in the coming weeks, and of course we will continue to work in partnership on our plans.”

The Ablett Unit was the home of Tawel Fan ward, which gained notoriety after a 2015 report by Donna Ockenden labelled the treatment of dementia patients there “institutional abuse”. The unit had been closed down in 2013 over the allegations of mistreatment.

The board brought in private consultants the Health and Social Care Advisory Service (HASCAS) at a cost of more then £2m to do a second report and, despite echoing many of the first report’s findings, came to the conclusion there was no “institutional abuse” there.

Chief officer of patient advocate and independent watchdog North Wales Community Health Council (CHC), Geoff Ryall-Harvey, was unimpressed the unit’s development had been put back. He said: “I think it’s vital that Betsi consults again with local residents to resolve the issues.

“The CHC has been concerned about the quality of the Ablett for some years.”