West Lothian Community Health & Care Partnership

Awful. As a carer of my mother who had dementia, not only was I not supported by the Partnership, and not treated as an Equal Partner in Care, contrary to its own policies, but it tormented and bullied us both in her final years of life. Instead of stating what concerns it had about my care of my mother, and discussing them with me, it took legal action to obtain a removal order and guardianship (both initially refused by the court), and later used the mental health act to section my mother, all contrary to her wishes. When she fell at home and underwent a successful hip operation, it refused to let her return home, claiming that for her own good it was best for her not to regain independent mobility. The Partnership made life hell for us both. It locked my mother in a dementia ward for the last 19 months of her life, and only allowed her on one supervised outing in that time. It refused to discuss any options for rehabilitation, refused physiotherapy, and prohibited me from improving her mobility. My mother died in February 2016, three weeks after they refused to allow an independent specialist to examine her.
Oct 12th, 2018