13/05/2014 BBC Wales Today

Welcome to Wales Today from Bridgend.

Tonight, a damning report finds serious

The First Minister and Health Minister apologise to

families and order an All-Wales review into elderly care.

I want to put on record my unreserved apology to those

individuals and their families whose Kay has fallen short of the standard

which they had a right to expect. The families of patients involved

say the report doesn't go far enough There must be a public enquiry and

in the interim when we wait for a government in denial to grant one

they must be the removal of the Chief Executive.

At the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend, failings have been found.

I'll be asking the Chairman of the Health Board what went wrong

A neo natal centre for north Wales will be sited at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd

but the sickest babies will be treated in England.

The green energy schemes that can help communities make money.

But some are concerned there's too much red tape.

And Wales names the boxing squad for the Commonwealth Games,

including the first ever female Welsh boxers to compete.

Patients left without food, water, or the correct medication and told

Welcome to the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend,

which tonight finds itself at the centre of a storm about how

An independent review found serious failings here,

Tonight, the First Minister and The Health Minister have apologised

to families of patients and have ordered a Wales wide review of

Here's our health correspondent Owain Clarke.

The government cannot hide behind this report. All of these families

claim the Swansea health board had left them and their loved ones down.

They each other story about that care. They saw today one of the most

damning reports on care standards in Wales in recent years. They have not

taken any consideration of surgery. With them was Gareth Williams from

Porthcawl. An investigation last summer revealed his mother suffered

serious neglect during the last two years of her life. This video by the

family shows medicine scattered around the hospital bed. She had

been sedated against their wishes. The health board ultimately

apologised but ever since Gareth Williams has led a campaign to

expose other examples of poor care which party prompted the

investigation that was published today. He told us apologies aren't

enough. It is a public disgrace. There must be a public enquiry and

in the interim while we wait for a government in denial to grant one

they must be the removal of the Chief Executive and the management

team. The team of experts brought in by the Welsh Government spent months

talking to staff, patients and their families. Some of what they had

caused them real concern. Some patients were not getting the water

they needed, the food they needed, the medication they needed. These

were largely exceptional events but they should not happen. There were

several other feelings for example older patients in bed instructed to

go to tile at Waverley. They were dismayed that staff tolerated

hazardous practices which meant medicines were recorded as given

when sometimes they were not. It notes a failure of adequate staffing

20 47 and managers being distracted trying to cut costs at the expense

of quality and patient safety. Concerns were also raised about the

effectiveness of health care Inspectorate Wales in not picking up

some of the issues. All in all there are 18 specific recommendations for

the local health board and Welsh Government. Both say they accept

them all and this afternoon the Health Minister went further

announcing spot checks would be held within months at all Welsh

hospitals. As from today, I will give health boards and NHS trusts in

Wales a four-week period to absorb the findings of the report and

satisfy themselves that such departures from basic professional

standards are not present in their organisations. Immediately after

that, each district general hospital in Wales will be visited by a small

group of independent experts. But others argue this report findings

contains ominous echoes of the mid Staffordshire neglects candle in

England. He may not think that this is a mid-Staffs crisis and I don't

think the report authors can conclude that given the narrow focus

of their work. But I have this one final thing to say. If it looks

like, smells like and moves like a mid-Staffs crisis, it's time for a

major enquiry into care standards in the Welsh NHS. The elderly care

expert who led the review begs to differ. There is a huge difference

between the catastrophic organisational failure that happened

in mid-Staffs and the situation here. In mid-Staffs the Danish

health service had no idea that it had a problem at all. Here, by the

time the Minister was aware, you had asked us to review it and the health

board knew there were issues. The report does give some cause to be

hopeful claiming that with immediate effort things can be turned around.

That with ten nurses suspended from duty and police investigation is

ongoing these families are still concerned. They consider themselves

to be victims of the care system that didn't care enough.

Let's talk to the chair of the Health Board,

One patient told the review team "I am in hell".

I was ashamed and I told the Minister that. We accept all the

recommendations of the report and we apologise for any poor care that we

have provided in recent years. Nurses claiming that patients would

not their responsibility. Management not doing much about complaints from

families. It does not get much worse does it? Absolutely unacceptable. We

have been talking today with members of staff here and we will do that

over the coming weeks. We have said clearly that that type of care is

unacceptable. If we become aware of it people should be made -- making

us aware of it. When I arrived here tonight I was met by a dozen

families who told me they were making complaints going back years.

Nothing was done and nobody was listened to. They are calling for

resignations tonight. Why has nobody resigned? The report said clearly

they have confidence in the leadership of the board to put right

what has been happening over many years. This has happened on

Baywatch. We are not a mid Staffordshire. The difference

between... We started to take action. You did not recognise the

deficiencies early. The families were telling the hospital this years

ago and nobody listened. I took up this office in January 2013. Serious

concerns came to light in March and we have moved very quickly. We have

changed the decision-making and we have challenged the bad practice. We

have changed management locally here. We are making wider changes

across the health board. So heads will roll? People have not performed

and they are no longer in position and we have appointed new people. We

have strengthened the local management and we are strengthening

the management in the health board. We accept the changes have not been

fast enough but that is why we welcomed the report. We think we can

produce something very special here and across the health board.

Many will hope this trial is a line under a row that goes back two years

or more to a decision by the Betsy Cadwallader health board to move the

treatment of seriously ill babies to a hospital over the border. John

Hewitt, you campaigned against that initial decision and you campaigned

for the regional centre to be tastier. Wrexham were hoping they

would get it. That is disappointment as well from some people who are

concerned that the most seriously ill babies will still be treated

over the border. I say to the people in Wrexham, two years ago there was

not going to be any investment in a new mental -- neonatal service in

North Wales. They were going to ship everybody over to London. To your

second point, I would say there has always been a case for seriously ill

babies. And you have benefited from that in your family? We have. Our

baby was born here in this unit and she would not be alive today if it

wasn't for the fantastic perfectionism of the staff here. The

first minister says this decision comes with risks and challenges.

There are concerns that the health board will not be able to deliver on

this side of it. They will have to. That is quite clear. There is a

change of the higher management now in Betsy Cadwallader and as a result

there needs to be a higher change so they're going to have two get their

ideas are straight. So a big announcement today. Acta you, Jamie.

If you're just joining us, tonight's top story:

The First Minister and The Health Minister have both apologised to the

families of hospital patients after an investigation found "unacceptable

More on this from our health correspondent Owain Clarke later.

A judge at Mold Crown Court has jailed a scout master

for 12 years for a series of sex offences against young teenagers

Martyn Tucker, who's 68 and from Chester, had admitted the offences.

The court heard the scout movement knew of the allegations,

Some of the sexual assaults took place on outdoor activity trips

A mines inspector has told the jury at the Gleision trial that

he wasn't notified of any plans to make contact with

a disused part of the mine, contrary to industry regulations.

Four men drowned at the Swansea Valley pit nearly three years ago.

Under cross examination, Tony Forster said he held

the mine manager, Malcolm Fyfield, in high regard.

Mr Fyfield denies four counts of manslaughter through gross

negligence and the mine operators deny four

A charity which gives grants to low income families with disabled or

seriously ill children has told BBC Wales it's had to stop

allocating money in Wales because of a delay in its funding.

The Family Fund normally receives around ?2.6 million a year

But it hasn't been told yet whether it will get any money this year.

The Government has admitted the delay is 'not desirable' but says

We have over 550 families waiting for the fund support. They are

waiting for washing machines, fridge freezers, clothing, bedding. The

reason we are not able to help them is because of the delay in the

funding from the Welsh Government. The Welsh Liberal Democrats have

launched their manifesto for the European elections

by saying that while they're big supporters of the European Union,

they're not afraid of reform. The launch took place

in the technology firm I.Q.E in Cardiff

which has just announced a new deal Our Political Editor Nick Servini

was there. A highly technical briefing was

given to the team. The workings of the European Parliament can be just

as baffling. It's one of the challenges the Lib Dems face trying

to sell the EU to the public. Coming to companies like this is a way of

highlighting the opportunities in trade. The party as set out its

stall as the party of in which it insists is markedly different from

the others. If you want to ensure that Wales and the UK continues to

punch above its weight and to trade across the European Union there is

only one party you can vote for. This company works in the

communications industry and makes the kind of equipment you find in

virtually every mobile phone. The challenge for the Liberal Democrats

is about communication as well and getting their message across that

they are different to the other pro-European parties because they

claim to put EU membership at the heart of everything they do.

You can see a full list of candidates for the European

elections on our website - bbc.co.uk/walesnews.

Some community groups say they're having problems getting energy

projects built because there's too much red tape.

In a bid to find new sources of income, many are turning to

small hydro-electric, wind and solar schemes to generate money by

Our environment correspondent Iolo ap Dafydd reports from Snowdonia.

This is just inside Snowdonia 's national park. Villagers have formed

a regeneration company which turned this mill into a community centre

and now has planning approval for a 270 kilowatts hydroelectric scheme.

This project will generate powerful in the National Grid -- power for

the National Grid. But the process has been slow. I think it is too

bureaucratic. The landowners, the National Trust and the Forestry

Commission, they are dealing with us as the first community they have

negotiated with and they are worried about setting precedents so they are

being cautious. In an area of high rainfall hydra scheme benefits from

an extra tariff paid by the UK Government to generate electricity

from renewable energy. Generating clean energy is still attractive to

landowners. This proposal to abstract route -- water from this

river was refused by Natural Resources Wales and a private scheme

was approved on the grounds it had slightly less environmental impact.

It did cost is ?28,000 to get to the point of getting the licence for the

water extraction. It was at that point they said no it has been

allocated to another company. The National Trust is adapting its

properties in Wales with over 100 renewable energy schemes including

two new hydroelectric schemes at this farm. The six and 40 kilowatts

hydro cost ?1.6 million but will pave itself in seven years. You've

got 100 years of sustainable income. The process especially if you'll

only ever build one hydro is not to be taken lightly. It is years of

hard slog. If it was easy everybody would be doing it. The trust is

pushing ahead with larger renewable energy plans to cut its power bills

but smaller community problems are slowly becoming less affordable as

cats in the West generate -- generous tariffs to produce green

energy are being accelerated. Wales have named an initial

10-strong boxing squad for the 2014 It includes three women set to make

history as the first ever female Welsh

boxers to compete in the Games. They're being described as Wales'

strongest-ever boxing squad. These are just some of the ten

boxers gearing up for ten weeks of intense training before the

Commonwealth Games gets underway. Taking their experience from London

2012 to Glasgow are Olympic silver medallist Fred Evans and

European Champion Andrew Selby, alongside reigning Commonwealth

gold medallist Sean McGoldrick. It is a real tough tournament. The

world number two and three and six are in my category so it can be

tough. Ashley Brace is one of three women

set to make history as the first ever Welsh female boxers

to compete at a Commonwealth Games. Since Nicola Adams won the first

women's boxing gold at the Olympics Ashley is now out to follow

in Nicola's footsteps She is a good boxer and somebody I

would like to fight and obviously beat. I don't go in there to lose.

To me it would be the greatest achievement to beat the Olympic

champion. Fred Evans first visited a boxing

club at the age of four and hasn't The pinnacle

of his career was London 2012. Alongside Andrew Selby they

represented Team GB at the Olympics. An Olympic silver medal is a great

achievement and everybody is saying it will be good now. But it is a

tough competition but I do have my sights on the gold.

So 10 boxers all with one goal and for one country.

Let's hope the sun will be shining for that.

Pressure is rising and we're in for a quiet, settled spell over

The highest temperature in Wales today was in Cardiff.

But there's a good chance that somewhere will reach 21C on Friday.

Not a heatwave but the warmest of the year so far.

Some lovely sunshine on the north and west coast today

The showers have now cleared leaving a dry evening and night.

Temperatures inland falling as low as 2C or 3C in the

Here's the picture for 8.00am in the morning.

Some cloud around but most places bright with some sunshine.

The temperature in Carmarthen around 10C with a light breeze.

So a decent day tomorrow with sunny spells.

Some thicker cloud in the north during

And it will turn out pleasantly warm.

Temperatures a little higher than today.

Tomorrow night, cloud in the north maybe thick enough for a

Mist and hill fog in the west and milder than tonight.

Thursday's chart shows high pressure over southern Britain and

I wouldn't rule out the odd shower on Saturday

but otherwise dry and warm but there are signs that during Sunday rain

There's to be an All-Wales hospital review into elderly patient care.

It follows a damning report into Abertawe Bro Morgannwg Health Board,

The independent review found failings both at Neath Port Talbot

Hospital and the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend,

An immediate review has been launched by the Health Minister.

This report raises a number of "serious concerns" about

the quality of care in the NHS and how elderly people are cared for.

It all began following a family's complaint about the

Let's talk to our Health Correspondent, Owain Clarke.

Explain to us more about the Welsh Government's response.

I think this report is so significant and the concerns in it

so significant that the government had no option but to come up with a

response that at least can be interpreted as robust. I am told

this morning every health board boss in Wales was ordered to look at this

report and measure their services for elderly patients against it.

After a month, inspectors come experts will go into every hospital

in Wales and judge whether or not elderly care is up to scratch. The

person in charge of that process is the author of this report. RU

surprised that this enquiry did not call for heads to roll? Yes.

Apologies to campaigners are hollow without resignations but I was

talking about this issue with the author of this report today and she

came to the view that if heads had rolled, that would have left a power

void at the top of the health board at the very time improvements needed

to be made. The view was that would not have been good for patients.

Visiting time is about to begin as hundreds of families come here

The managers, politicians and NHS staff responsible for providing

the best of patient care have been found wanting tonight.

Tomorrow, the job of rebuilding trust and reputation begins.

We'll have an update for you at 8.00pm and after the BBC News

From all of us on the programme, good evening.