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Council Forces Elderly Couple To Live In Separate Care Homes

Council Forces Elderly Couple To Live In Separate Care Homes

Ninety-two-year-old Charles and Jean have been married for 30 years but now have to live three miles apart

Chris Ogden

Chris Ogden

A Scottish couple in their 90s who have been married for 30 years have been torn apart after being forced to live in separate care homes.

Ninety-two-year-olds Charles McGuigan and his wife Jean were forced to leave their Glasgow home last year due to the pair suffering from health problems - but now they have been left heartbroken after social workers sent them to live in homes miles apart.

Daily Record WS

Charles has been sent to live in Chester Park Care Home in Kinning Park, while Jean - who has dementia - has been relocated to Davislea Care Home three miles away in Govan, the Daily Record reports.

Glasgow City Council - who organised the move - are now under pressure from the couple's family to find Charles a room in the same care home as his wife.

Jean's daughter Sandra Jackson told the paper: "It is unacceptable. What sort of society would treat a couple in their 90s in this way? It is a disgrace.

"At the end of last year, my stepdad Charles was taken into hospital after suffering pains in his legs that left him unable to walk.

"My mum has dementia and she couldn't stay in the house on her own, so the social work department moved her out to Davislea Care Home.

"But when my stepdad was well enough to leave hospital, he was moved into Chester Park."

Glasgow City Chambers.
PA

According to Sandra, the pair are 'inconsolable' at being apart as Jean keeps asking where her husband is and Charles has found himself in tears.

She added that both Charles and Jean would be happy at Davislea, saying: "It is what they want and it is what the family wants."

Charles, a former sheet metal worker, and retired shop worker Jean married in 1988 and had been living in Castlemilk until Charles was taken to hospital this past December.

The council's social work department initially gave the pair the option of moving into sheltered accommodation together in the future, but not for Charles to move into Davislea with Jean.

The distance between the two care homes.
Google Maps

Sandra added: "Mum's care home have told me she really needs to be in a care home now.

"They also say they have room for Charles but the social work department have been telling us this isn't an option.

"They could both move into supported accommodation but that doesn't seem practical on account that both of their health has deteriorated."

Glasgow City Council are now understood to be considering looking at whether Charles can move into Davislea.

A spokesman for Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership said: "We cannot comment on an individual case. We always seek to ensure couples are accommodated together wherever that is possible and appropriate."

Featured Image Credit: Daily Record WS

Topics: UK News, News, Scotland, Glasgow