GWENT’S health board has been forced to take urgent action to fix problems which presented an “immediate risk to patient safety” at one of its facilities.

A team from the Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) visited a unit for patients with learning disabilities in February, unannounced, and has since published a report on its findings.

There, the inspectors said HIW “could not be assured that the health, safety and welfare of patients, staff and visitors was being actively promoted and protected”.

Staff at the unit were not identifying, monitoring or preventing potential risks of harm, they added.

“We saw three examples of immediate potential risk to patient safety and advised staff to remove them, but only one risk was removed prior to the conclusion of our inspection,” the inspectors said.

These three potential hazards included a bedsheet left in a communal bathroom, described as a possible ligature risk; plastic bottles left in a bathroom, which was a risk to patients liable to self-harm; and a hoist in a corridor which also presented a ligature risk.

While the hoist was cleared away, the bedsheet and bottles “were still present” on the second day of the inspection.

A sample of patient records “contained many significant gaps”, leading HIW to conclude “we could not be assured that patients were being monitored, fully protected and safeguarded on the unit”.

Additionally, six incidents relating to “medication errors and patient restraint incidents” were reviewed and inspectors “found there was no investigation update within all six incidents”.

The HIW team said it was “not assured that incidents were being effectively investigated, managed and scrutinised to prevent reoccurrence”.

Staff at the unit could not identify whether colleagues “who were not compliant with their restraint training had participated in patient restraints” in the three months before the inspection.

“Therefore, we were not assured that staff and patients were being fully protected and safeguarded against injury,” the inspectors added.

The HIW visit took place between January 31 and February 1, and the inspectorate said “our concerns regarding these issues were dealt with under our immediate assurance process”.

It is now up to the health board to “confirm action has been taken in line with management responses documented in the improvement plan”.

“We also ask health boards to provide documented evidence of action taken and/or progress made,” the inspectors said.

Aneurin Bevan University Health Board said it had undertaken "firm action" to address the inspectors' concerns, and was "dedicated to improving the well-being of our patients and staff".

The health board said it planned to build a new "purpose-built" mental health unit for Gwent, and also highlighted the inspectors' praise for its "supportive, responsive and helpful" staff.

“The health board have committed to working with staff, patients and partners to continuously improve our services and to provide the best standard of care to our patients," a spokesperson added.

"However, we recognise there is more to do, and we are building a programme of improvement to address the areas of concern."