A PENSIONER with leukaemia has been forced to spend almost £1,000 a week on care for her husband after he was turned down by seven state-funded care homes in the county.
Barbara Harvey, 74, was left with no choice but to put her husband Derek, 77, in a home after his Alzheimer's left her unable to care for him at the family house they have lived in for more than 47 years.
The couple will have been married for 57 years this week. But grandmother-of-five Mrs Harvey, who has been spending her savings on her husband's care, is running out of money to pay for fees at the privately-run Manor Lodge in Chelmsford, and is desperately searching for a local authority-funded care home to take him.
"I have no idea what to do," Mrs Harvey said. "I have phoned the council but they haven't got back to me, my son has been calling all the care homes in Chelmsford. I've come to the end of my tether.
"Manor Lodge is wonderful and the staff are fantastic, but I just can't afford to keep him in there. I am spending all my savings, and I have other bills to pay too."
Seven care homes in the county have visited Manor Lodge to assess Mr Harvey but refused to take him – despite him being eligible for state-funded care.
"They don't give reasons, they just turn him down," Mrs Harvey said. "But it has been suggested that he is too lively, and needs a lockup in case he wanders off. But these are supposed to be homes for people with Alzheimer's and dementia, so surely they are locked in at night anyway?"
Mr Harvey is one of around 1,304 people in Chelmsford and 20,000 people in Essex who suffer from dementia, according to recent statistics from the Alzheimer's Society. The latter figure is expected to rise to 35,000 by 2025.
But Mrs Harvey has been told that all of the local authority-funded care homes in Chelmsford are full – posing questions about the level of care provided for dementia sufferers in the area.
"Derek had Alzheimer's for 18 months, and then things took a turn for the worse," Mrs Harvey explained.
"He tried to go into town in his pyjamas and had to be brought back by a friend of my son, who saw him at the bus stop. Then a few days later he became violent towards me and I had to call the police; that is when I had to get help and put him in a home."
Despite having battled leukaemia for a number of years, Mrs Harvey initially attempted to care for her husband at home.
But after he deteriorated, Mrs Harvey contacted the Amethyst Day Hospital, which helped to find his current place.
Although she struggles to walk, and requires bi-weekly blood transfusions for her leukaemia, Mrs Harvey still visits her husband regularly, and said: "He still recognises me, he asks where I have been every time I go in.
"He is very happy there, but we need more care homes in Chelmsford. There must be so many other people like me who are in the same position as I am."
