Llanfrechfa Grange Hospital

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Llanfrechfa Grange Hospital is a hospital operated by the Aneurin Bevan Local Health Board, located to the east of Cwmbran in the neighbourhood of Llanfrechfa. It has fulfilled a number of roles through its history.Llanfrechfa Grange was built in the middle of the 19th century by Charles Prothero of malpas. He sold it around 1865 to Francis Johnstone Mitchell.According to Kelly's Directory of 1901 the Grange was a large mansion in the Elizabethan style, pleasantly situated in a park of about 30 acres and overlooking the Valley, is the seat of Frank Johnstone Mitchell esq. FSA., DL, JP. The main building is Grade II listed.Llanfrechfa Grange was the name of a GWR 6800 Class locomotive.Initial hospital useIn the 1940s there was a nursing home on the site, including maternity services.From 1953, the Grange provided long term residential accommodation for people with learning disabilities. In the early 1960s it had more than 500 beds, provided in a series of accommodation blocks called villas. It had more than 300 residents in 1983. This role finally finished in 2008 as accommodation in the local communities was commissioned.Current useLlanfrechfa Grange Hospital provides homes for people with learning disabilities who require continuing health care. This care is provided in three on-site villas, with other residents in four homes in the community, where they are supported by a multi-disciplinary team in each of the five local authority boroughs. Each team consists of Learning Disability nurses, Therapists and Medical staff.There is also a 10-bed Assessment and Treatment Unit which offers a rapid response for clients with learning disabilities who may pose major challenges to community services because of acute emotional/behavioural disturbance and/or mental ill health. Referral to the Unit is via the medical psychiatric team.