Care home bid for Thurso man branded ‘scandalous’

A LOCAL woman claims her learning-disabled brother is being bullied into moving to full-time nursing care against his wishes.

The Highland Council’s social work department has told Christine Sutherland that 64-year-old George Davis’s increasing health needs mean he should be moved to a nursing home.

Mrs Sutherland (61) said her brother wishes to remain in sheltered accommodation in Thurso and has alleged that officials are moving against that wish by exaggerating his health problems.

She said the family are battling against a “wall of authority” and Mr Davis faces being pulled away from his Thurso home.

The retired civil servant from Haster said the decision as to where her brother lives has been taken out of their hands as just last week a hospital nurse told her that Mr Davis would be going into full-time care.

“It’s just been so underhand and we haven’t been kept in the picture at all,” said Mrs Sutherland. “Everything has been done behind our back.

“George’s human rights have not been respected at all.”

Mr Davis is currently in Caithness General Hospital being treated for a chest infection but normally he resides in a one-bedroom ground-floor flat in Henderson Street.

The supported accommodation is operated by Key Housing which develops alternatives to institutional care for people with learning disabilities.

He has lived in the sheltered housing complex for around two decades, moving into his current flat around five years ago. In addition to learning difficulties, Mr Davis’s health has been declining over the past few years.

He currently has mobility issues and uses a Zimmer frame but leads an active social life, attending art classes, getting taken for shopping and visiting friends.

Due to a lack of faith in a hoist designed to lift him, Mr Davis has not used the bath in around two years, exacerbating a skin condition.

Earlier this year Mrs Sutherland received a letter from Key Housing to say that it was considering putting in a wet room with a shower. Mrs Sutherland claimed her brother was expected to foot the bill, despite the association apparently covering the costs for similar conversions in the block.

It was at a subsequent meeting that Mrs Sutherland and her husband, Don (70), were hit by the news of Mr Davis’s future.

“The first item on the agenda was George’s bathroom and we expected it to be a fight so we had our boxing gloves on,” she said. “The meeting opened with the representative from Key Housing saying that they were against any alterations to the bathroom.

“We were gobsmacked so we asked for the reasons behind this and they said George’s needs could no longer be met by Key and the social worker said they were considering moving him into nursing care.”

This would be completely against his wishes, said Mrs Sutherland.

She said he has repeatedly told her that he wants to stay where he has built his life over recent years.

Mrs Sutherland said he is frightened of the social work department and is being “brainwashed” into giving what he thinks are the answers which will keep him out of trouble.

“He is so frightened of authority figures that he gives them the answer that he thinks they want,” she said. “It’s not a choice – he feels pressured into it.

“It’s just absolutely scandalous; I’m just so angry with the way things have been done.

“Meanwhile George is sitting in hospital not knowing whether he is going back home or into nursing care, and he’s just worried sick.”

There is to be a multidisciplinary meeting tomorrow to discuss the case.

Mrs Sutherland said they had not had a chance to explore any other avenues of care available to Mr Davis. “We feel that we are being pushed into a corner and we can’t make decisions for him with due thought or care,” she said. “The decision is already made.

“They are going to put him in a nursing home and he is just going to wither.”

A Key Housing representative said yesterday that no decision had been made and they are awaiting tomorrow’s meeting.

Key Housing manager John Morritt was unavailable for comment.

A Highland Council spokesperson said that the council was not able to comment on individual cases.