Major patient safety concerns have been identified at one of Wales' busiest A&E departments. Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) paid an unannounced visit to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Bodelwyddan, Rhyl, between May 3 and 5 and found that many areas of concern identified during a previous inspection in March had not been rectified.
During their March visit, inspectors found "excessive" delays in the time it took patients to be reviewed by doctors "in most cases". In one instance they discovered that a patient should have been seen within 10 minutes of triage but waited more than six hours to see a doctor and subsequently became unwell. In 14 out of 20 cases inspectors reviewed, patients were not seen within the recommended time for their triage category.
Similarly, HIW said it was not assured that sufficient risk assessment processes were in place to protect patients from avoidable harm. "In one case it was deemed that a patient who had presented with a potentially lethal overdose was not managed effectively in the department. The patient discharged themselves against medical advice and the form to facilitate this discharge was not completed fully," the report stated.
