13/05/2014 BBC Wales Today

Good evening. Patients left without food, water, or the correct

medication. Told to go to the toilet in their beds. Tonight the Princess

of Wales Hospital in Bridgend finds itself at the centre of a storm

about how the NHS cares for elderly people. An independent review found

serious failings there and at Neath Port Talbot Hospital. Tonight the

First Minister and the Health Minister have apologised to the

families of patients, and ordered a Wales-wide inspection of elderly

people's care in hospital. The government cannot hide behind

this report. All of these families claim to have a story about bad

care. Today we were with them when they saw for the first time one of

the most damning reports on care standards in Wales. With them is

Gareth Williams. A BBC Wales investigation last summer showed his

mother was the big Tim of serious neglect. She was sedated against her

wishes. The health board apologised, but ever since Mr Williams has led a

campaign about poor care for the elderly. It is a public disgrace.

There must be a public enquiry and in the interim, there must be the

removal of the chief executive and the management team. I took up this

office in 2013. Serious concerns have been taught to my attention and

I have moved quickly to make changes. The team of independent

expert spent months talking to patients and their families at Neath

Port Talbot Hospital and Princess of Wales Hospital. Some patients were

not getting the loop, medication and help they needed. -- the food. There

were allegations of older people being told to go to the toilet where

they laid in bed. Staff knowingly tolerated hazardous practices.

Sometimes medication was recorded as being given when it wasn't. The

report says that managers were distracted trying to cut costs at

the expense of quality and patient safety. Questions were also raised

about the Welsh Inspectorate not picking up some of the issues. Both

the health board and the government say they accept the recommendations.

The health minister said checks will be held within months at all Welsh

hospitals. As from today I will give health board 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 organisation. Immediately after that, each

hospital in Wales will be visited by a small group of independent

experts. But this people's findings contains ominous echoes of the mid

Staffordshire scandal. If it smells like a Mid Staffs crisis, it is time

for a public enquiry into health care in Wales. In Mid Staffs, the

English health service had no idea it had a problem on that scale.

Whereas here, by the time we reviewed the situation, the health

board new there were robins and were trying to improve them. The report

does give some hope. Hopefully things will be turned around, but

with ten nurses suspended from duty and police investigation is

ongoing, these families are still concerned. They consider themselves

to be big tins of a care system that did not care enough.

Intensive care services for babies in North Wales are to be centralised

at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Bodelwyddan. The Welsh Government's announcement

follows an independent review, which also considered Wrexham Maelor

Hospital as the sole location for intensive care for babies. Babies

needing the highest care level will go to Arrowe Park Hospital on the

Wirral. It is important because it means now we can move forwards to

plan neonatal services for the whole of North Wales. It also ends a

period of uncertainty or our hard-working staff and also the

population of North Wales. A judge at Mold Crown Court has

jailed a scout master for 12 years for a series of sex offences against

young teenagers in the late 1960s and '70s. Martyn Tucker, who's 68

and from Chester, had admitted the offences. The court heard the scout

movement knew of the allegations, but didn't tell the police. Some of

the sexual assaults took place on outdoor activity trips in

Denbighshire and Flintshire. 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 counts of corporate manslaughter.

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 from the Welsh

Government. 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 a decision will be made very soon. We have over 550 families

waiting for grants from the fund. They are waiting for support with

items such as cookers, bedding, fridge freezers. We cannot help them

because of the delay in receiving funding from the Welsh government.

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 selling power to the National Grid.

Our environment correspondent Iolo ap Dafydd reports from Snowdonia.

Villages here have formed a regeneration company which turned

this old mill into a community centre. It now has planning

permission for a hydrophilic trick scheme in the hills nearby. It would

generate power for the National Grid and an income for the benefit of the

local communities. But the process has been slow. I certainly think it

is far too bureaucratic. We are the first community that has had to

negotiate with the likes of The National Trust. They been

overcautious. In an area of high rainfall, income can be generated

from hydroelectricity. The proposal to extract water from a nearby river

here was refused and a private scheme was approved on the grounds

that it had slightly less environmental impact. It cost us

?28,000 to get to the point of getting the licence. It was at that

weight they said it had been allocated to another company. After

all the reports, it was ridiculous. There will be two new

hydroelectricity electricity schemes on this farm. It has cost ?1.6

million, but it will pay for itself in seven years. If you only build

one hydro, it is not to be taken lightly. It it was easy everyone

will be doing it. Smaller community rejects, despite the good intentions

of the authorities, are slowly becoming less affordable as cuts in

the grants to produce sustainable energy are being reduced.

Rugby, and it's been three years since he last played for Wales, but

Gavin Henson is among those named in the Wales trial match ahead of their

summer tour to South Africa. Warren Gatland is using the game at the

Liberty Stadium at the end of the month to see the players in action

before naming his squad. Cricket, and Hampshire are closing

in on a win against Glamorgan, which would send them to the top of

Division Two. At the close of play on day three, Glamorgan lead by 64

runs with one wicket remaining. An early wicket would leave Hampshire

with a reachable target, as long as conditions permit play.

Lets get the weather forecast. Sunshine and showers, but pressure

is rising and that is good news for the next few days. Plenty of dry

weather heading our way, warming up as well. 16 Celsius in Cardiff

today. There is a good chance that somewhere in Wales will heat 22

Celsius on Friday. Try across the country tonight and nearly clear. It

will be quite chilly with some mist and ground frost in the countryside.

A cold start in the morning, but it will be dry. Some lovely sunshine to

follow. Heavy downpours and thunderstorms in England today, but

it is a different story tomorrow. Many places dry with sunshine and

patchy cloud. Some rain in Northern Ireland, spreading eastwards across

Scotland June the day. 15 Celsius in Belfast, 19 degrees in London. It

will cloud over in the north later in the afternoon. Tomorrow night,

maybe a spot of drizzle in the north, but no more than that. It

will be missed the in Pembrokeshire with some hill fog. -- it will be

misty. Try and settled weather to come. There will be some clouds, but

it will warm up and temperatures are to 22 Celsius. Generally dry for the

rest of this week and Saturday looks the best day of the weekend.

Newsnight has just started over on BBC Two, asking why a former British

Defence Secretary is being investigated for war crimes. From

all of us on the programme, good night.