MENTAL health beds for older adults at a Gwent hospital have been closed and patients moved to new sites, under phase one of a plan to improve services.

The nine-bed Ty Bryn ward at Maindiff Court Hospital, Abergavenny – described earlier this year in an Aneurin Bevan Health Board report as “not fit for purpose” – has closed.

Its dementia patients have been moved to Chepstow community hospital (Monmouth patients) and Hafen Deg ward in the Ty Siriol unit at County Hospital, Griffithstown (Abergavenny patients). Beds for patients with functional illness, such as a mood or affective disorder, psychotic disorder or neurosis, have also moved to Hafen Deg.

The three-phase plan to redesign older adult mental health services in Gwent has at its heart a shift from inpatient care to community-based services.

Ty Bryn ward was first phase priority, however, as it failed to meet privacy and dignity, infection control, and health and safety requirements.

But its low occupancy rates, and space elsewhere, meant patients could be transferred based on the findings of a recent option appraisal. There remain more than 100 beds for older adult mental health patients, spread across nine sites in Gwent, and a further 20 at two sites in south Powys now administered by Aneurin Bevan Health Board.

Phase two of the process involves remaining inpatient wards and units in Monmouthshire, Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly and Torfaen, and will focus on separating beds for functional and organic illness – such as loss of social skills, memory and intellect – and in reducing inpatient care while building communitybased services.

Subject to findings, a further reviewof services will take place in Newport.