Staff at 'zoo like' psychiatric unit to be reported

Ten members of staff from a psychiatric unit where patients were claimed by families to have been treated “like animals” have been reported to their professional bodies.

Wales' First Minister Carwyn Jones has promised that disciplinary action will follow a damning report claiming “institutionalised abuse” at the Tawel Fan ward of the Ablett Unit, at Glan Clwyd Hospital, near Rhyl.

The Crown Prosecution Service has decided that no action will be taken against anyone. But a report to next week’s meeting of the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board says that seven employees have been referred to the Nursing and Midwifery Council and three to the General Medical Council.

The Board’s chief executive Professor Trevor Purt has already described the treatment of some patients as “shocking, inexcusable and unacceptable.”