PATIENTS with learning disabilities and acute mental illness, and staff caring for them, are at risk of serious injury or death unless an assessment and treatment unit at a Gwent hospital is replaced, a trust report says.

Gwent Healthcare Trust is to spend more than £1m on moving the existing unit at Llanfrechfa Grange Hospital to another, upgraded, building on the site.

The unit has been widely criticised by patients and their carers, whose concerns have been backed up the Mental Health Commission, the Health and Safety Executive, and Health Inspectorate Wales.

There are plans for a new unit, but this is unlikely to be completed for seven or eight years.

The current ten-bed unit is used to assess and treat people with an acute mental illness and who need specialist support. It has been based in a decommissioned long-stay institutional ward at the Grange since it was set up as a pilot project in 1991.

There has been little investment in recent times, however, because of plans to re-provide the unit - difficult to pursue given the uncertain future of the site.

A trust report on the need to move the unit lists 17 issues requiring immediate attention, including:

*Potential ligature points on bedroom partitions, pipework and radiators.

* Non-toughened glass in windows, creating a potential weapon for self-harm or harm to other patients and staff.

* A dormitory-style environment providing insufficient privacy;

* Not enough toilets and baths.

* Draughty windows.

* Not enough therapeutic or recreational activities.

The trust has approved a plan to upgrade another decommissioned ward at the Grange which is built to the same design as the existing unit.

The report acknowledges that this is just a stopgap, but the cost of almost £1.2m will enable the villa to be internally redesigned to address the issues.