Tawel Fan: Improvements yet to be made, says Donna Ockenden

Improvements to mental health services in north Wales are yet to begin, according to the author of a report into failings at a dementia ward.

The Tawel Fan ward at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Denbighshire shut in 2013 amid allegations patients were mistreated.

In summer 2018, Donna Ockenden wrote to the health minister and said staff told her services were "going backwards".

Gary Doherty, chief executive of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, insisted improvements are being made.

In 2015, a report written by Ms Ockenden into the treatment of patients on the Tawel Fan ward claimed it amounted to "institutional abuse".

In a subsequent report in July 2018, she described mental health in north Wales as a "Cinderella Service" with "wholly inappropriate and significantly flawed" leadership since Betsi Cadwaladr was formed in 2009.

Another report, published by the Health and Social Care Advisory Service (Hascas) in May 2018, said there was no institutional abuse at the Tawel Fan ward - but accepted there were failings.

Correspondence details concerns which Ms Ockenden continued to have after she finished gathering evidence for her reports.

Writing to Health Secretary Vaughan Gething in the summer of 2018 she said: "My concern is that the BCUHB board and senior management team within mental health at BCUHB do not currently have the capability and capacity to deliver upon the root and branch systemic review that is needed to make older peoples mental health services better for staff to work in, for vulnerable patients to receive care in and for carers to feel supported in.

"One ward based nurse described to me a recent visit by a BCUHB executive to an older persons mental health inpatient ward as 'rivalling Usain Bolt for the speed in which he covered the 100 metre length of the ward;' (in and out) and said 'He managed to cover the ward at speed and left again without speaking to a single member of staff or a patient...'."

Her offer to oversee the health board out of special measures has been rejected by Mr Gething.

Mr Gething said he had asked officials to be kept informed of the actions taken by the health board as a result of the letter.

Mr Doherty said: "We have taken action on the findings of the Ockenden and Hascas reports and made significant efforts to improve our Older Persons Mental Health Services. This has included investing substantial additional funding into these services.

"Key areas of focus have included working with families to deliver truly person-centred care, and improving the training and support given to staff.

"The findings of unannounced visits by Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) show that standards of care on our mental health units are improving, and our staff are motivated and enthusiastic about how they care for patients."