Dementia care home placements ‘paused’ amidst complaints say health board

Richard Evans Local Democracy Reporter

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said it has paused placements at a dementia care home amid complaints from families.

The health board said it was aware of complaints concerning Meddyg Care Dementia Home in Rhyl and said placements at the facility by the health board “are currently paused”.

The health board said the decision was due to “potential concerns raised with us”.

The care home strongly disputed the statement, claiming health board placements had taken place recently.

It comes after the families of two former residents at the care home contacted the Local Democracy Reporting Service to raise concerns about their loved ones, who were privately funded, being “evicted” from the facility.

They got in touch after the care home’s managing director Kevin Edwards spoke out about a dispute between the home and Denbighshire Council over care fees.

Mr Edwards said he did not “recognise the picture painted” by the families and said the company has a “proud record of upholding the highest standards” and said “providing the best quality care for our residents is always our utmost priority”.

Keith Jones, the partner of former resident Ceinwen Morgan-Jones, 74, who has dementia and Alzheimer’s, claimed she was recently “evicted” from the home.

“My partner was a resident at the home until recently but has now moved to a better home, following what I would call a traumatic experience at Meddyg Care Rhyl,” said Mr Jones.

He said his partner was a residential resident, and claimed the dispute centred around an additional £10,000 payment said to be required for her treatment.

Mr Jones said the family disagreed with making the additional payment, and requested that they look to obtain funding from the health board. He said a meeting took place to determine whether Ms Morgan-Jones should be re-assessed as a nursing resident.

He claimed that following a fractured meeting, he was later informed that his partner would be required to find a new care home, which she has now moved into.

Lesley Williams, 59, of Rhuallt, said her mother Celia Knapper, 84, was evicted from the home in January following a dispute around payments.

Mrs Williams said her “vulnerable” mother lacked mental capacity and suffered with Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia.

Mrs Knapper, a widow, had lived at the care home since 2023 when it was Richmond House before Meddyg Care took over. An email to Mrs Williams from Meddyg Care, seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, references a dispute between the two parties over whether payment should be made for podiatry treatment.

It states there has been “a complete breakdown in the relationship between Meddyg Care Rhyl and yourself”, before stating that the care home was serving notice to end the placement “due to a breakdown in relationship”.

Mrs Williams said: “I’m not happy with the way my mum was treated.

“My mum has got dementia and was disorientated and didn’t understand what was going on, and then when she moved to her new home, she kept asking am I going home again?

“It was not her environment, and people with dementia like continuity and routine.”

She added: “I’m my mum’s only relative, so it was very distressing at the time to be told an old and vulnerable lady was being moved.”

Care Inspectorate Wales [CIW] confirmed they were “aware of concerns that have been raised about Meddyg Care Dementia Home in Rhyl” and said they “take any such concerns very seriously”.

A new inspection was carried out this month, they said. A spokesperson added: “We are unable to comment on individual cases or specific complaints due to confidentiality obligations, but where concerns are raised with us about a registered service, we assess them and take appropriate regulatory action.

“This can include increasing the frequency of our engagement with a provider, carrying out inspections, and requiring providers to take specific action to address any issues identified.

“In this case, we chose to inspect Meddyg Care Home in Rhyl on 8 September 2026. The inspection report will be published soon.

“The commissioning of placements at the home is a matter for local authorities and health boards, in discussion with the provider and the individual or their family.”

They did also confirm that there are no restrictions from CIW in place preventing new admissions to the care home.

They added: “Our role is to regulate the quality and safety of care provided. Where disputes over fee levels and the assessed level of care required by individual residents affect the wellbeing or continuity of care for residents, we would expect all parties to work together to resolve them without compromising the welfare of the people involved, and we would expect to be kept informed of any significant developments affecting residents.”

Mr Edwards disputed a number of claims made by the families, and the statement from the health board stating that new placements from them had been paused.

He said: “We have a proud record of upholding the highest standards and providing the best quality care for our residents is always our utmost priority.

“We do not recognise the picture painted in the two cases, which is at odds with the latest published report by Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) following a rigorous inspection of the home [in March], which it rated as Good in every single aspect of the running of the home, covering well-being, care and support, the environment, as well as the leadership and management.

“The report included feedback from relatives who praised our ‘excellent service’ and described our staff as being ’consistently caring and attentive to residents’ needs’.”

Mr Edwards claimed the health board placed two patients from Ysbyty Glan Clwyd at the home this week, and had made another request for placement in the same week.

He added: “It is also significant that CIW, the regulatory body, have no plans to restrict admitting new residents, although they have the power to do so.

“In fact, according to their latest report, our residents experience good outcomes because they receive respectful, calm, and attentive care that supports their day-to-day wellbeing.

“The report describes how our care staff interact with people in a kind, respectful, and well-paced way.”

Speaking about the complaints from families, he said: “The first case [involving Ms Morgan-Jones] is actually a problem of Betsi’s making. It’s a very sad situation because we were not given the appropriate support by (the) Community Mental Health Team.

“We reached out to them and they essentially refused to provide the necessary support.

“We have two other care homes in Gwynedd, and I know if a similar situation in North West Wales [had happened], this would not have arisen because we would have received the support needed to provide the right type of care.

“In relation to the second case, we asked the daughter on six separate occasions to change the bank account details because the nursing home’s old owners’ bank account was being closed down.

“Although we explained repeatedly that a new contract was not needed, she kept insisting on a new agreement being drawn up. It was also explained that she was perfectly entitled to arrange an external podiatrist which she did not do, so very sadly the situation became impossible.

“We are confident that we have acted honourably in both cases in line with the values that underpin everything we do at Meddyg Care.”

Mr Edwards added: “The reason we bought the home was that we were getting so many referrals from the Rhyl and wider Denbighshire area for specialist dementia care for placements in our Porthmadog and Criccieth homes, which was having a detrimental impact on bed availability for Gwynedd residents.

“So over the past six months, we have been transitioning our Rhyl home to dementia nursing care and are registered by the authorities to provide that for 35 people. That is our expertise.

“However, we are also still providing exemplary care for the original residents. Demand for our dementia nursing beds and specialist services are increasing month on month.”

---

Get more trusted Welsh news

Choose Nation.Cymru as a preferred source in Google News to see more of our journalism.