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Michael Walsh in St Mary’s Hospital |
‘They want to get rid of a burden’
Wife of war veteran says she will fight to get him the care he vitally needs
THE wife of a war veteran with senile dementia is fighting against social services and St Mary’s Hospital over his future care.
Carol Walsh, 44, says she will not accept her husband back from the hospital until social services offers her a better care package in her Bayswater home.
Following a fall last month, Michael Walsh, 83, was treated for back pain in the Paddington hospital.
Despite a full recovery three weeks ago, the former Second World War officer has been left in Dumbell Ward in South Wharf Road.
Mrs Walsh has cared for her husband with only the help of her 24-year-old daughter since he was diagnosed with dementia two years ago – but now she says enough is enough.
She said: “I cannot provide what he needs. Maybe they think I can, but I can’t. It is about dignity. He served his country for god’s sake – is this how he we treat our old people in Westminster?
She added: “They want to get rid of the burden but I cannot have him back. It is a 24-hour job. I need help. I’ve been stalling them because I cannot lift a six foot man. Now I am being accused of bed blocking.”
Ms Walsh, who represents Westminster on an old people’s forum help in City Hall, said social services had carried out an assessment on their home in Queensborough Terrace more than a year ago.
She says none of the promised safety features have been installed and this week she filed a formal complaint to her ward councillor Sir Simon Milton, the leader of the council.
She said: “Because they have such a big majority they are complacent. They say Every Older Person Matters is their policy. But that is just on paper. When you see how some older people are treated in Westminster it makes you give up as a person.”
Mr Walsh, the son of South African businessman, was educated at King’s College, Canterbury. He was stationed in Italy as an officer supervising the Gurkhas Brigade.
He became honorary secretary of the ex-servicemen literary society. He lived in South Africa for 35 years and wrote a comprehensive account of his time there – attacking the hypocrisies of colonial rule and exposing the devastating divide between rich and poor.
“He was very well educated,” said Mrs Walsh, who married a 59-year-old Mr Walsh in South Africa when she was in her mid-20s. “It is very difficult that he has lost his memory. But that does not mean he should lose his dignity.”
A spokeswoman at the hospital said it was a “complicated case”.
A joint statement from the hospital and the council said: “Staff at St Mary’s are working closely with Westminster social services to ensure that Mr Walsh is discharged from the hospital to an appropriate care as soon as possible.” |
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