Elderly couples spend life-savings just to stay together, says Norwich charity boss.

Susan Ringwood, chief executive of Age UK Norwich. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY (Image: Copyright: Archant 2017)

This week the country's most senior family judge hit out at the 'shocking' practice of separating elderly couples against their wishes in care homes.

Sir James Munby, president of the Family Division of the High Court, said he felt 'personal outrage' that 'people who may have been together for 30, 40 or maybe 50 years are separated in their final years' and has called for it to stop.

Today Susan Ringwood, chief executive of Age UK Norwich, said she was aware of cases in Norwich where couples were split up due to their care needs differing, but said she did not think it was happening too often.

However, with the proportion of over-80s in the city above the national average and a growing elderly population, she said it would be harder to keep couples together, particularly when the social service system was already under a huge strain.

She said: 'I think it's a human rights issue. It's not acceptable to break up people's marriages and relationships, no matter how long they have been together - five years or 50 years.

'Our services are so constrained at the moment that they are sadly not able to provide that person-centered care that they want to.'

Ms Ringwood said couples were more likely to be able to stay together if they were able to fund their own care, but in cases where spouses have very different care needs, for example where one needs nursing care and the other only needs residential care, and they were reliant on local authority-funded care, they were more likely to be split up.

She said: 'We want people to be able to stay in their own homes or there is a risk they become isolated. Often it's very simple things that people need and the sense of community and a good neighbourhood that you get in our communities in the city. It doesn't take much beyond that for people to stay quite independent but the threshold for care is so strict that it's taking people's life savings to stay in their own homes.'

Ms Ringwood said it was important for families and older people to plan for future care needs and added: 'By the time it gets to a point of crisis that's the worst time to try to make any sort of decision.'

In a speech in Stafford on Tuesday, Sir James told the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (Adass) that forcing apart pensioners was 'absolutely shocking and a profound indictment of our society'.

It was reported that Sir James told Adass members: 'We do know that people die of a broken heart. I have read of cases where one person died and then the other dies a couple of days later. How long do people last if they are uprooted? A very short time.'

He said when a person was 'uprooted' and placed in a residential home it involved a 'severance with place and people and things'.

A Norfolk County Council spokesman said: 'We work very hard to help older people live as independently as possible and for as long as possible in their own homes. Sometimes circumstances mean that this is not possible and, very often, couples recognise the need for one of them to move into residential or nursing care. In these cases, we always consider factors such as location and family wishes to ensure that loved ones are able to visit and maintain their relationships if this is what they want. In addition, where it is possible, we also arrange for some couples to move to better extra care housing so that couples can remain together with care on-site. We will be commissioning additional housing over the coming years.

'Social workers are there to help and support people facing these sorts of decisions, often at very difficult times in their lives. In 2015/16, Norfolk County Council was supporting 3,197 older people in residential and nursing placements and there were 1,357 admissions.'

Joyce Hopwood, president of Norfolk Older People's Strategic Partnership Board, said she was not aware of what the situation was like currently in Norfolk, but she had heard of people being separated - usually in difficult and urgent situations, where there has not been much choice or time to plan. She said: 'There's no question that people who have spent their lives together, it's extremely distressing for them to be separated in their last stages.

'In general, one would hope that Norfolk wouldn't separate couples because it's too cruel.'

Peter Rowley, who runs Care for Carers with his wife Christine from their home in Bowthorpe, said he was 'incensed' to hear that couple are still being separated.

He said he had been impressed with the recently-built Bowthorpe Care Village, where there is a specialist dementia care home and apartments with care scheme.

He said: 'We need more things like that but of course that costs money and the government, and by that I mean any government, wouldn't have the money to do what is needed.'

Thinking outside of the box, and taking a mix and match approach helps Dorrington House Care Homes to keep couples together.

Owner Stephen Dorrington said there are times when some couples are unable to stay together, but that his care homes, in Dereham, Watton and Wells, tried their best to ensure that it did not happen.

For example, his care home in Dereham has some one-bed studio flats which are connected to the home, but still have their own front and back door.

He said: 'For some partners that is better than being in a home and they get support, peace of mind and the peace and quiet they might not get in a home where there are lots of residents with dementia.'

Another solution which can be possible, with the necessary approval from the Care Quality Commission, is when a husband and wife both have a room in one care home, and one room is large enough to accommodate them both for sleeping. Then the second room can be turned into a living space, giving them more of their own privacy to live together and care for each other.

Do you have experience of this issue? Contact reporter Kim Briscoe on 01603 772324 or email kim.briscoe@archant.co.uk