TWO local women have spoken out this week over a lack of care provision after care for their husbands was withdrawn, leaving them feeling ‘abandoned’ and ‘devastated’.

Susan Spratling and Pat Steer are both ex-professional carers themselves. Both have husbands who suffer from Parkinson’s disease and they have both been told that their care providers will no longer be operating in the area from next week.

Care providers are private companies that are given NHS contracts, but Susan says: ‘These providers of care these days do not care. All the Government are doing is putting a plaster on each individual scenario, and we know plasters do not last.’

Pat, who was a Macmillan nurse and is now aged over 80, explained the care situation for her husband Geof, who, along with others set up the local Parkinson’s support group, saying: ‘My husband has Parkinson’s and needs help with showering, dressing and toileting.

‘He is unable to care for himself, so consequently I have to be with him 24 hours a day. We have half-an-hour of care each day.

‘The care we have received has been sometimes unreliable, with different carers every day, different times, sometimes one to one-and-a-half-hours late.

‘The carers vary in proficiency and experience, some very young, always tired as they work long hours with few breaks and receive little support from their management.

‘They are poorly paid and have no union protection or pension. They are exploited by the management, staff turnover is frequent and morale is low.

‘The only alternative it seems to me is to place our loved ones in care. How will this solve the problem? Soon there will be no care beds.

‘The Government must be made to realise the valuable work carried out by husbands, wives, and families to keep their relatives in their own homes, thereby saving money that can be spent elsewhere in the NHS.

‘They are also freeing up rest-home beds to enable so-called “bed blockers” to be discharged so that hospital admission can go ahead.’

Susan’s husband Jeff was the original founder of Saltstone Caring in Kingsbridge. He was a methodist minister, assistant director for the Midlands Red Cross and started the Norton Brook car service.

‘This is a man who dedicated his life to caring for others’, said Susan, ‘Jeff has given his life to equality, giving and looking after humanity in general and where has it got him? No choice at all, he’s treated worse than a prisoner. It is his express wish never to end up in a home. Our elderly and frail are cast out - abandoned.’

Susan says one of the main issues is being separated from her husband. She said she ‘cannot believe the system of care at present can be so cruel to part couples who want to be at home.

‘The system of treating our elderly and frail is to split them up and put them anywhere, with the knowledge that they will be apart for months, maybe years. With Jeff’s frailer state of health, this means possible other issues. We are to be parted again, last time it was for six months.

‘I had to fight the system then and with the help of many good social workers, occupational therapists and others, we were able to get back to our home, where we have been for the last 14 months.

‘We even renewed our wedding vows, which was lovely. Our friend and vicar Daniel French of Salcombe came to our home. Although it is hard at times, we cope. It is Jeff’s wish to stay at home, it breaks my heart that we have no choices on our path.

‘If the Prime Minister, Mrs May, and the public, do not start putting more money aside for care, hospitals and the NHS in general, we are all sunk.

‘I never thought my husband would be treated so badly at this stage of his illness and we would be parted, yet again, by the system.’

Susan explains that she and Jeff feel the ‘system has totally failed him’ and with an ageing population, the care homes needed to place people can be a fair distance from home.

‘We are constantly worrying about the uncertainty over Jeff’s care and that his needs will not be met’ she continued. ‘His social needs will suffer as friends will not want to visit him far away.’

She feels that properly funding the NHS would solve the problem: ‘Please put money back into the NHS that has been lost, get councils back in line. Give them money to be able to run a more humane care system with properly adequate training for carers, enough wages, enough car payments for travel costs and we would soon get good carers back into our system.

‘Some of these carers do a fantastic job with our elderly. Others are just poorly trained and treated with no respect at all from some care providers.

‘Put money back where it belongs, please, so we can treat our frail, elderly citizens with respect.

‘The damage that providers of care have done to us both is devastating. I want the world to know the plight of the abused and elderly.

‘In the twilight of his later stages of Parkinson’s and dementia, all of it is disgusting and makes him anxious and angry. I would not wish this on anyone, let alone the person I love.

‘He, like others, deserves so much more.

‘We will be most vocal from now on. We are all living longer, which is good, but with no future at all.’

Devon County Council says that it can’t comment about individual cases, but a spokesman for the council said: ‘We will do everything we can to help people remain as independent as possible, and living in their own homes for as long as possible.

‘That might be through formal packages of care, or through guidance and information and signposting to other local services that can help. Sometimes it’s difficult to arrange the appropriate level of care at home in some remote areas of the county, but we always persist in seeking the support people need.

‘It’s encouraging to hear of the positive support that our social workers, occupational therapists and others have given in these arrangements.’

The news comes in a week when the British Medical Association published a report that says the NHS will see cuts of £22billion by 2021.