Call for board to suspend rape-accused

AN UNDER-FIRE hospital is facing calls to suspend an employee who is on police bail after being arrested on suspicion of rape.

- CONOR GOGARTY

Last week we revealed Cardiff's University Hospital of Wales (UHW) had opted against suspending the staff member, leaving the complainant horrified.

South Wales Police confirmed a man from Cardiff was arrested last August on suspicion of rape, intentional strangulation, coercive or controlling behaviour, stalking, and common assault.

He remains on bail while police investigate, but Cardiff and Vale University Health Board has decided to place him in “a supervised non-patient facing role” rather than suspending him.

The complainant, who has recently been attending appointments at the hospital in Heath, said the health board’s stance had left her “very disheartened and quite frightened”.

Heledd Fychan, Plaid Cymru MS for South Wales Central, told us: “It's imperative that the complainant is able to feel safe when attending hospital appointments whilst the police investigation continues into these extremely serious allegations, and clearly that’s not the case as things stand.