‘Frustrated’ Stranraer woman relocated by care home after being refused care package deal
Her son is seeking to take legal action.
Son of a Stranraer woman is ‘frustrated’ that Belmont Care Home is moving his mum 25 miles away after apparently backtracking out of a care package deal.
Irene Brown has been living at the care home for the last seven months or so after leaving Millburn Court but was moved to another residence in Newton Stewart yesterday.
According to Irene’s son Matthew, the manager at Belmont Care Home had promised to train staff to help her with her tracheostomy (tube) in her throat and early set dementia.
He later found out a couple of days after the new year that this wouldn’t be possible anymore due to her complex needs and she would need to be relocated.
Irene is a Stranraer woman through and through who has spent all her days on the West Coast and has a strong network of friends and family there.
Mr Brown is concerned that this move will be too much for her and will isolate her from everything and everyone she knows.
As he now lives in Ayr, he relies on the train to see her but says it will be more difficult to visit her.
He was also the one to break the news to her.
“I had to tell her on Friday there that she was moving. You should have seen the shock and frustration on her face. She’s happy here, she’s got friends here. They’re chucking her out from her family and friends where she doesn’t know anybody.
“The main thing that I’m really angry and frustrated about is being told that everything is going in the right direction; they were prepared to get the district nurses in to train their staff and as I said, I got the call just after the new year and was told that won’t be happening. I’ve really just been down in the dumps lately.”
He adds that he and his mum have been given false hope by management: “That’s the way I see it – false promises! My mum is getting the brunt of it because they’re not prepared to train their staff.
“In the future, what are they going to do? Turn people away from the door who need help and care?”
After several meetings with management and councillors, he managed to persuade them not to send her to Dumfries but was told Newton Stewart was the only other option.
Matthew Brown says he is seeking advice to take this further: “At this present time, I’m looking at talking with solicitors or the right person to put me down the right kind of road. My ma is okay, but she is getting the brunt of a situation.”
We have asked Belmont Care Home to comment.