Woman takes legal action over future of husband's care

A Derry woman has spent almost £2,500 in a legal battle with the Western Trust to ensure that she has a say in the care of her husband.

Margaret Toland was forced to pursue a legal route when the Western Trust did not involve her in decisions about the care of her husband, Joe, 71, who has Alzheimer’s disease and has been in full-time care since May last year.

Margaret recently attended a meeting with the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA), Northern Ireland's independent health and social care regulator, accompanied by Aidan Hanna, chairperson of NI Patients First and NI Patients Voice.

Margaret had been excluded from decision making about her husband’s care and was told, despite her protests, that he would be discharged and moved to a care home in Omagh.

Margaret and Joe (pictured), from Eglinton, have been married for 42 years in July and have a daughter, son and four grandchildren.

Margaret said she first noticed symptoms of her husband’s illness six years ago.

After spending time in Cornfields Nursing Home and at home, Joe was moved to Waterside Hospital until one day Margaret was unexpectedly told by the ward sister and consultant doctor that he would be moved to a care home in Omagh.

Margaret, who was shocked and upset, protested against the move.

However, just a day later she was told the consultant had written the discharge letter to send Joe to Slieve Na Mon nursing home in Omagh.

“I was just gobsmacked; dealing with the Western Trust has been terrible,” she said.

“There were none of the procedures or processes in place, I wasn’t asked involved in any preadmission assessment, I was just told.”

After being told Joe would be moved to Omagh against her express wishes, Margaret went to a solicitor..

Following this, the move to Omagh did not go ahead and Margaret received a call the following week saying there was a free bed in Derry care home, Owen Mor.

However, Owen Mor assessed Joe and said they could not take him.

The other local nursing homes also could not provide a place, except for Slieve Na Mon in Omagh.

Margaret asked to see the documentation of Joe’s assessments but was denied.

Margaret requested Joe’s records from the Western Trust at a fee of £30 and despite a May 28 deadline for a response has received nothing.

She then attended pre-admission assessments for local care homes but Greenhaw Lodge said they would not be reassessing Joe.

However, the following day, she received another call to say Joe had been reassessed while Greenhaw Lodge were visiting other patients and had decided they could take him.

Margaret again asked why she had not been involved and decisions were being made without consulting her.

She was advised by her solicitor the move should be stopped with a judicial review.

“We were going to the High Court with it but the Western Trust actually came back and held their hands up and said things hadn’t been done properly; it was awful, it cost me around £2,500,” she said.

“It’s been a horrendous few months. It was even admitted to us that family are never at pre-admission assessments.

“I know Joe better than anybody but the way it was done I was told, there’s a bed there, he’s going. I was in tears and told a member of staff I would do whatever it takes to stop it.

“I had the ability to fight this but what about those that don’t? People don’t have to take this kind of treatment.

“The disease takes away the person away from you bit by bit, they call it the long goodbye, and you’re dealing with that only to have the Trust on the other side who instead of helping and supporting are making things so much more painful.

“He is the love of my life, Joe is very important to me; for Joe to be sent to Omagh where I couldn’t see him every day, it would have been the ruin of both of us.

“It’s been an uphill struggle, to have to fight and go through a legal battle is really exhausting.”

She added: “I’m not a vindictive person but I’m going to pursue this complaint, I haven’t went away because what we have been put through, no other family should ever have to go through this.”

A spokesperson said: “Due to confidentiality reasons the Trust does not comment on the individual care or treatment of patients.”