Glan Clwyd Hospital

Glan Clwyd Hospital (Welsh: Ysbyty Glan Clwyd) is a hospital in Bodelwyddan, Denbighshire, Wales.

It is one of the major hospitals of the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.

History

Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, as it is habitually referred to by the local populace, was opened in 1980. Built at a cost of ₤16,000,000, it originally benefited from six major operating theatres. It employed 382 nurses, 47 ward sisters, and 100 doctors in 1986.^[1] It was the headquarters of the Conwy & Denbighshire NHS Trust until 2007. In 2012, a new operating theatre department was opened, followed by a new pathology department in 2013.^[2]

Famous people born at Glan Clwyd include double Olympic gold medallist Jade Jones.

Performance

A report by Donna Ockenden claiming “institutionalised abuse” at the Tawel Fan psychiatric ward at the Ablett Unit was published in May 2015. Families described seeing patients "constantly crawling on dirty floors" and being "like a zombie...drugged up".^[3] As a result, seven employees were referred to the Nursing and Midwifery Council and three to the General Medical Council. Chief Executive Trevor Purt described the treatment of some patients as “shocking, inexcusable and unacceptable”.^[4]

Hip replacement surgery waiting times (112 weeks) at the hospital were branded an "outrage" by Darren Millar in February 2017.^[5]

Improvements

A new Emergency Department, a new theatre complex, mortuary and bereavement centre, X ray centre and Pathology building opened in 2014.^[6]

Plans to downgrade maternity services at Glan Clwyd were published in 2015. After a public outcry, multiple demonstrations, a series of often fractious public consultation meetings across north Wales, and a petition signed by over 15,000 people, the plans were finally abandoned later that year.^[7]

As of 2017, Glan Clwyd is in the midst of a multimillion-pound improvement scheme including a new neonatal intensive care unit which will centralise neonatal intensive care in North Wales.^[8]

References