CARE of elderly patients in Gwent hospitals will come under the spotlight as part of a Wales-wide review ordered following a damning report on quality of care at two South Wales hospitals.

Health minister Mark Drakeford announced the immediate review after the publication of Trusted to Care report, by Professor June Andrews and Mark Butler, which also exposed serious patient safety issues at the Princess of Wales and Neath Port Talbot Hospitals.

That report makes 18 recommendations, including four for the Welsh Government, accepted in full.

Professor Drakeford has now ordered a series of spot checks by a ministerial team of experts to look at standards of care for elderly patients at district general hospitals in Wales.

These checks will focus on areas where deficiencies were noted – medication, hydration, night time sedation and continence care.

Professor Drakeford, who commissioned the review into the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg health Board-run hospitals, said it “does not make easy reading”.

“As health minister, I give my unreserved apology to individuals and their families whose care has fallen short of what they might expect.

“The actions we need must be taken as a whole.”