A MAN has won damages over the care of his wife in a council-run home.

Kirklees Council, which runs Castle Grange Care Home in Newsome, has agreed to pay Michael Taylor £1,250 in compensation.

The Slaithwaite man said: “It doesn’t seem much considering my wife nearly died.”

Phyllis Taylor, known as Peggy, who turned 77 yesterday, was a cleaner and machine operator at Sybro in Slaithwaite.

But in 2003 her health deteriorated.

Mr Taylor said: “She was an avid reader, she loved Mills and Boon but then she lost her concentration. She would pick up a paper, turn some pages and put it down again without reading anything. She was also forgetful and very easily upset.”

Mrs Taylor was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and her husband tried his best to care for her at home.

Mr Taylor, 66, said: “I coped at first but as her dementia got worse it wore me down. After three years I couldn’t manage anymore so I started looking for a care home for her.”

Kirklees Council’s social services advised him to place his wife in the council-run Castle Grange Care Home on Ing Lane in Newsome.

Mr Taylor said: “I had no experience of care homes so I didn’t know what standards to expect. But after a week I knew something wasn’t right. Her room smelled of urine and I couldn’t find a carer half the time because the place was under-staffed.”

Matters came to a head when Mr Taylor and their daughter Mandy Foster visited Mrs Taylor on August 4, 2006, two weeks after she had been admitted to Castle Grange.

He said: “We went up to her room and she was sitting in a chair almost in a coma. She was saturated in urine. I thought she was not long for this world.”

Mrs Foster, who works in the health service, rushed downstairs and demanded medical attention for her mother. Mrs Taylor was rushed to the Huddersfield Royal Infirmary where she was found to have septicaemia and dehydration.

Mr Taylor said: “I was very, very upset with the care home, what I think of them is unrepeatable.”

His wife deteriorated in hospital. He said: “On the second night she had heart problems. The doctors didn’t expect her to make it through the night but miraculously she survived.”

After a few weeks in the HRI Mrs Taylor had to go back to a home.

Mr Taylor said: “I was adamant that she wasn’t going back to Castle Grange. She went to Abbey Place in Fartown instead. She’s been there ever since and the care there is magnificent, there’s no comparison.”

A consultant geriatrician looked into Mrs Taylor’s treatment at Castle Grange, finding that she had not been helped with eating and drinking, and had been given food and drink containing sugar, despite being diabetic.

The report also found that she wasn’t helped to use the toilet and her medication was not provided on numerous occasions.

Last year Mr Taylor contacted Ridley and Hall Solicitors in Market Street. Mr Taylor said: “I thought she should at least be recompensed for her suffering.”

This month Kirklees Council’s insurance company agreed to settle out of court, giving Mr Taylor £1,250 plus legal costs.

A council spokesman said: “We always seek to provide the highest standards and quality of care for residents in our homes and respond immediately to concerns or complaints raised by relatives.”