By Conor Gogarty

Copyright walesonline

External investigators are probing a controversial NHS mental health unit. It comes after the Hafan y Coed facility at Llandough hospital, in the Vale of Glamorgan, was hit by two damning inspection reports. Last October the Healthcare Inspectorate Wales published a report highlighting serious failings at two of the facility’s adult mixed-gender wards, Cedar and Alder, including concerns over patient restraint incidents and a lack of training. And in July this year the watchdog released a critical report about another of the unit’s wards – Maple, which cares for men who have committed a serious crime or pose a risk to others. A source close to the unit told WalesOnline an external audit is now taking place there due to a lack of improvement following the inspection findings. It is linked to the Welsh Government’s “targeted intervention” into concerns over the beleaguered Cardiff and Vale health board , which runs the unit. A government spokeswoman said: “Due to serious concerns relating to governance, culture, quality and safety and operational pressures, we escalated Cardiff and Vale University Health Board to level four (targeted intervention) in July. This is short of special measures which is the highest at level five. “Work is ongoing to support the health board in these areas, including adult mental health, to make the necessary changes.” A spokeswoman for the health board told us it is “working with a small external team of mental health professionals” to help ensure “best practice”. She added: “The team are with us for a few weeks and are working closely with the clinical teams to understand the models of care we provide and to share examples of good practice. The feedback from the staff to date has been very positive and we are keen to continue to raise the profile of mental health services in our health board.” Healthcare Inspectorate Wales said it is not “directly involved in the external audit”. But last October the watchdog found “immediate action” was needed to improve patient safety at the unit. “This included inaccurate recording of patient restraint incidents and the involvement of untrained staff in these incidents – issues that were also identified during a previous inspection in January 2023,” said the inspectorate at the time. “Additionally, inspectors were concerned about building maintenance problems which posed health and safety risks, including swollen floors that prevented fire doors from closing and several trip hazards.” There was found to be “low compliance” with infection control training as well as gaps in daily cleaning schedules and “poor” record-keeping. “Most staff who completed our questionnaire felt that senior managers were not visible, and that communication between senior management and staff was not effective,” the report read. This was followed by a report from July which found problems with infection control and with morale suffering from “limited senior management visibility”. Issues raised at an inspection five years earlier had still not been addressed, including bedrooms without emergency call points and a shortage of personal alarms. “Maintenance and cleanliness problems, such as water damage, broken fixtures, clutter, and hygiene risks were identified,” the report went on. Specialist risk assessments were found to be overdue because of “staffing pressures and training gaps”. You can read more here about some of the other controversies to have plagued the health board. These include a scathing report into the culture of University Hospital of Wales ‘ operating theatres from staff drug use and racism to an “atmosphere of fear” and dilapidated facilities. If you would like to speak to WalesOnline about a story we should be investigating, email us at conor.gogarty@walesonline.co.uk