Bed-bound woman faced moving from Mull to the mainland for care

A bed-bound woman living on Mull faced being placed in a care home on the mainland, miles from her family, because of a shortage of adequately trained staff on the island.

Margo Baxter, 85, requires oxygen and needs assistance to move from her bed to go to the toilet - help that she previously received from care-at-home staff.

But part of her care package was abruptly halted in April because Argyll and Bute Council were struggling to supply enough carers who were qualified to lift her.

Now her son Euan and daughter-in-law Denise face working from home full time while looking after Margo so she can stay in Tobermory.

Margo is bedbound because of the progressive lung condition idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). She is visited by carers four times a day.

Until recently a carer would lift her from bed along with a member of Margo's family.

However, this has now been stopped because the partnership says family members do not have suitable training in moving a person.

The Health and Social Care Partnership said it was facing acute challenges trying to recruit care at home staff on the island, and offered an alternative that would see Margo moved to a care home in Helensburgh.

Denise told BBC Scotland News: "They said we have two solutions - we can find her a care home in Helensburgh, and we said that wasn't a solution, as we would be sending her off to die on her own.

"The other option was that they would try and hire someone else, and train them up as quickly as possible. That has not happened yet."

Ewan and Denise now work together to assist Margo, or call on neighbours or friends for extra help when needed.

A carer still visits four times a day, but is unable to help move the 85-year-old.

Ewan and Denise say the changes were introduced very suddenly and fear they are affecting the quality of Margo's end of life care.

"The service just suddenly stopped. In the morning the carer came in and we moved her, and when she came back at lunchtime she told me she was no longer able to lift Margo," said Denise.

"It took me a few phone calls to find out why this had happened. They said it needs to be two people trained in manual handling by Argyll and Bute Council, and as me and Ewan are not trained by them, they could not work with us.

"I asked why they couldn't use people with NHS training, but they said it had to be people who had been trained up with the council."

Denise hoped that the health and social care partnership could link up with sheltered housing charity Trust, which has a home called Glen Iosal in Tobermory.

However, the health and social care partnership said Trust's manual handling qualifications were not up to date - something disputed by the charity.

Denise said she fears other families in the area may be facing the same problems.

While Denise and Ewan are happy to help out, she said it is hard juggling being carers with full-time jobs miles away.

BBC Scotland News has spoken to several current or former care workers on Mull. Many said community carers left their jobs because they were only paid for however many minutes they spent with each client.

This has left the social care partnership bringing in agency nurses for some work instead.

Retired community carer Mairianne Noble said: "Being a carer on Mull is quite challenging.

"You don't get enough time with clients, maybe 15 minutes for breakfast then again at lunch, so you are always rushing and constantly watching the clock.

"They are really getting short-changed - they are entitled to quality care and on Mull they are not getting that. It is not fit for purpose."

Mairianne added that she felt there would be dozens of others suffering similar issues to Margo's family.

She said she knew of other families who had either given up jobs to become full-time carers or sent relatives to the mainland.

Margo Baxter has since received equipment aimed at helping her get in and out of bed, but her family say they are uncertain if they will get further support.

Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership said it would look to take further steps to help the Baxter family.

A spokesperson said: "We would like to apologise to the lady concerned and her family for the issues they have been experiencing in relation to receiving care at home services.

"Like many health and social care partnerships across the country we have had challenges in recruiting care at home staff and this has been even more acute on some of our islands such as Mull.

"We will contact the lady and her family to see if there are further steps that can be taken to find a suitable resolution to this issue."