Gwynedd Parkinson's sufferer left with 'nowhere to go' after care home fall

A woman whose elderly father has “nowhere to go” after falling at a care home and ending up in hospital says she is at her wit’s end.

Sue Jones, of Talysarn in Gwynedd, received a call from the Plas Gwilym residential home in Penygroes on Sunday and was told her 83-year-old father, Arthur James Hamilton, had cut his head in a fall and was on his way to Ysbyty Gwynedd .

The 53-year-old was told her father, who has Parkinson’s disease, osteoarthritis and symptoms of dementia, could not return to the home after being discharged from hospital, as Plas Gwilym is a residential home and not a nursing home.

“They said six months ago he should be in a nursing home and not in a residential home,” said Mrs Jones.

She said Gwynedd social workers have been trying to find a suitable nursing home for her father, but he was refused by one because he was “too mobile” and by another because it was full.

Mrs Jones said she has asked for advice as to which home he should go to, but says nobody could advise her on the most suitable or supply her with a list of homes.

“I have asked for guidance,” she said.

“His disease is only going to get worse. They can’t advise me. What am I supposed to do? Something needs to be done.

“Somebody needs to be held accountable. It’s coming across as my fault because I haven’t gone looking for a home.

“I needed advice to see what I was looking for.”

Mrs Jones said the hospital now can’t discharge her father as he has nowhere to go.

“He’s got a bed blocked now at Ysbyty Gwynedd ,” she said.

“I am disgusted by the way he’s been treated. They can’t just abandon him.

“He’s got nowhere to go and I’m in limbo. I don’t know what to do. I can’t get answers.

“Everything is my fault. He’d like to go back to the home because the staff like him.”

Mrs Jones said her father became a resident at Plas Gwilym after her mum had cancer and couldn’t cope with looking after him.

Mr Hamilton, who also lived in Talysarn, is originally from Warrington and is a grandfather of two and great-grandfather of four.

A Gwynedd council spokesman said: “While the council cannot discuss the details of individual cases, when an individual’s care needs change, they must be accommodated in a suitable registered establishment.

“Plas Gwilym is a residential care home for older people and does not provide nursing care.”

SOURCE: Daily Post, Hywel Trewyn