Families are being stopped from moving their elderly relatives to different residential homes from facilities that they are unhappy with, it has been alleged.

The daughter of an 89-year-old woman claims that she and her siblings have been blocked from transferring their mother, Mrs W, from Packwood Nursing Home in Somerset by the National Office for Seniors and the Physically Challenged (NOSPC) because it considers her “adequately placed”.

The family’s main issue with the home is location, as they live in the East End, but the daughter told The Royal Gazette they also feel it is not a good fit for their mother because most residents have some form of dementia and she does not.

“Her body is frail but her mind is active,” said the daughter, who asked that her mother remain anonymous. “She’s sitting in this ‘room of death’ with all these dementia people. There’s very, very little activities for anyone [without dementia]. She’s just sitting there waiting for death.”

Mrs W moved into Packwood, which is a registered charity, a couple of years ago, after a period of respite care at Sylvia Richardson Care Facility in St George’s, a home that is operated by the Ministry of Health. The monthly fee for both facilities is $5,000.

“We searched high and low for what we thought was the best place that had availability,” the daughter said. “There was no space at Sylvia Richardson. We found Packwood and so we moved her in there. We were hoping it was going to be short-term, but it’s turning into a long-term affair.”

The elderly widow has not settled at Packwood, according to her daughter, but she does receive the nursing care she needs there.

Nursing services are not available at all homes, but Sylvia Richardson, where the family would like to see Mrs W return to on a permanent basis, is registered as a “skilled facility”.

The daughter claimed that their request for a transfer to Sylvia Richardson was rejected by the NOSPC, which works with the Community Assessment and Referral Team (Cart) and other agencies to place seniors in residential facilities.

She said the reason given was not because of a lack of beds at the state-run facility. The charity Age Concern has previously flagged up the continuing problem of “long waiting lists, limited facility options and sizeable monthly fees” for seniors in need of residential care.

Mrs W’s daughter said: “I spoke to [seniors’ co-ordinator] Katherina [Gibbons] and I said, ‘How can I get my mother on the list to be considered for Sylvia Richardson?’. She said that in the eyes of the Cart team, she’s adequately housed; she’s getting basic medical care, food and a roof over her head.

“The Cart team said I was being too picky. I said, ‘This is my mother’. She’s not perfect, but she’s a dear, sweet soul. She’s not getting the emotional care that she needs.”

According to critics of the NOSPC, Mrs W’s case highlights the need for revised and improved procedures for placing elderly people in residential homes.

Derrick Burgess, the Shadow Minister for Seniors, wrote to Health Minister Jeanne Atherden on the topic on December 9, claiming that the NOSPC’s refusal to move Mrs W to the Sylvia Richardson facility was a “clear violation of the Human Rights Act”.

He wrote: “I would ask for that policy, whether written or unwritten, to be corrected as soon as possible.”

He had not received a response by press time.

Elizabeth Stewart, from the charity Action on Alzheimer’s and Dementia, said that the system seemed “all very haphazard”.

She said that she was told in a meeting with the NOSPC that there was no waiting list kept. “It’s kind of luck,” Ms Stewart claimed. “Is there a waiting list or not? It’s ludicrous.”

She added of the NOSPC’s two caseworkers: “[They] are doing their best but there just appears not to be enough human resources in place to cope with the demand and they are constantly trying to put out fires. We are trying to help the NOSPC with dementia-specific cases.”

Another advocate for the elderly, who asked not to be named, told The Royal Gazette: “If they did nothing, you could work around it, [but] they block people trying to move relatives. They say, ‘No, you may not move her’. They don’t care if the person is happy there or not.”

The Health Minister said in a statement last September that her ministry’s objective was for seniors to “remain active and in their own homes for as long as possible” but to assist with placement in a residential facility when that wasn’t possible.

“Every attempt is made to place the senior at the residential care facility which best matches their needs and budget,” Ms Atherden said.

“We continue to work with the private sector on the establishment of new rest homes in order to increase capacity and meet demand. For example, we provide private developers with advice regarding the legal requirements for establishing and managing rest homes.

“We continue to operate two nursing homes, which offer excellent care at highly subsidised rates.”

Mrs W’s daughter acknowledged that “Packwood is probably better than most” homes on the Island, but insisted that families should have more say in where their loved ones live.

“You are at the mercy of the Government,” she said. “We are just trying to draw attention to a huge problem. If you have a person in a home who is unhappy, you can’t get them even considered for a move to a better one.”

Packwood administrator Karen Mitchell said that she was aware that Mrs W’s family were unhappy but insisted: “The family always have the right to move their relative. The National Office tells nursing homes that families have that right.”

Registered nurse Gaylia Landry said that the issue could be finding the right level of nursing care for Mrs W because not all homes have nursing services. “If you are going to move from this type of facility, they want you to move somewhere with similar levels of services.”

Both said that although most residents at the 30-bed home suffer from dementia, it offered a wide array of enrichment activities for all and took any complaints seriously.

The Royal Gazette asked the Ministry of Health about Mrs W, but a spokeswoman said that she could not comment on individual cases.

• The NOSPC has provided us with a list of all registered residential homes and fees. It can be accessed by clicking on the PDF asset to the left of this story.