The health board website states that:

‘The Board was made aware by families of serious concerns about the care of patients in December 2013.

‘Immediate action was taken to close the ward and patients…transferred to alternative care.’

However, I wrote to the chief executive of the then north Wales NHS trust in April 2009 on behalf of a constituent, stating that the treatment received by her husband in the unit nearly killed him, that three other patients, admitted around the same time as her husband, had similar experiences, and she was now worried about the treatment that others may receive in the unit. Her husband had Alzheimer’s disease and terminal cancer. Through that, I was copied on the complaint of another patient who had vascular dementia, which included distressing ‘before’ and ‘after’ photographs. The chief executive responded that it was being treated as a formal complaint and that she’d copied my e-mail to the chief of staff for mental health and learning disabilities. How, therefore, will you ensure that this inquiry not only considers the impact on the patients and the families, but considers why matters were raised with them several years—four and a half years—before they acknowledged that they were made aware of this, having been raised with them at the highest level?