Closure at Llandudno Hospital threatens care for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients

Jun 11 2009 by Tom Bodden, North Wales Weekly News

PENSIONERS with Alzheimer’s and dementia have been left without adequate care after the closure of a specialist unit at Llandudno Hospital.

That’s the fear of health bosses who say the services left behind after the closure of the Bodnant EMI unit may not be enough to cope in future because of the area’s aging population.

Health minister Edwina Hart has ordered her own officials in North Wales to look again at access to care for pensioners with Alzheimer’s and dementia amid protests in the wake of the unit’s closure.

The unit closed in February, but now a summit meeting will be held on Monday between local health chiefs, the Alzheimer’s Society, Age Concern and carers to review access to remaining services for the elderly.

It is understood there are no plans to reopen the 16-bed Bodnant unit but concerns centre around provision of services to help people in their own homes and the wider community.

Mrs Hart said: “The regional office, after discussions with me, has rerun the demand calculations of the local health board and concluded that its assessment was conservative when set against future population changes.

“The new assessment will be discussed by the stakeholders on June 15 and, following that, you will be relieved to hear that the LHB and the trust will be able to revisit the county plans for services for the elderly mentally ill and prepare refreshed plans for my consideration.”

The Bodnant EMI Unit in Llandudno was closed to inpatients by order of the independent Mental Health Commissioners.

But many carers of relatives with memory problems were concerned at the lack of respite care available when the service was transferred to Bryn Hesketh in Colwyn Bay.

Staff in North Wales also raised concerns about the operation of the community mental health service. Former carer and campaigner Ian Turner, whose late father suffered from Alzheimer’s, said people who used the Bodnant service valued it but it had been closed without adequate community facilities being put in place: “I welcome this thinking as long as it changes the plans. Action is what is needed.”

The move was welcomed by Plaid Cymru AM for Aberconwy, Gareth Jones, who said: “Up to now there seems to have been a fundamental disagreement between management and carers on the length of the waiting lists for admissions – with management saying there is little or no waiting list while carers are saying they can’t access care.

“I have great sympathy for those carers who have told me of their frustrations with the system since the Bodnant unit closed.

“It is a particularly important issue in Llandudno because of our increasingly ageing population and I am hopeful that the concerns of carers can now be addressed.”

A spokesperson for the North Wales NHS Trust said: “Since the transfer of inpatient services from Bodnant to Bryn Hesketh we have been able to meet all requests for inpatient admissions and continue to provide all agreed respite care while retaining sufficient spare capacity to accommodate short-term increases in demand.

“However, with people living longer, we recognise that over time there will be increased need for mental health care for older persons.”