A CARE home has slammed a local authority for causing 'emotional turmoil' to a couple caught up in a row over funding.

Last month Edith and Robin Dixon were told they had to find a new care home for Mr Dixon, because St Aiden's Cottages, in Bearpark, near Durham, said it needed to double the care package he was getting.

Mr Dixon, a former maintenance fitter and Coal Board worker, has been living at the home since 2006 because of deteriorating health following a heart attack in 1999.

Earlier this year a row broke out over his care because Durham Careline, which owns St Aiden’s, says the care package paid for by Durham County Council is not sufficient to cover the needs of the 65-year-old, who has had two strokes since arriving at the home.

The council says it has assessed the needs of residents and believes the existing service is sufficient.

Since being told he has to move, Mrs Dixon has been making enquiries at other care homes, but the distraught former dressmaker, from Witton Gilbert, says none will take him.

She said: “Nobody will take him because they say he needs nursing care. I’ve had four care homes look at him and none of them will take him. Everyone is saying he needs extra care.

“The council are saying he doesn’t need care and the homes are saying he does. I’m just left in the middle and I don’t know what to do next. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

She is awaiting a meeting with a social worker from the council, due to take place on September 11.

Rob Devitt, commissioning manager for Durham Careline, said: “It is disappointing that despite our continued efforts to get Durham Council to even recognise that this is a problem has resulted in more false hope for Mrs Dixon.

“The care providers who have assessed this individual have reached the same outcome that we reached: That the care package Durham Council are funding is totally inadequate and does not meet the changing needs of the individual concerned.

“We can, and we are, meeting this individual’s needs and we want to continue to do so and there is absolutely no reason for Durham Council to put Mrs Dixon, or her loved one, through this turmoil.”

Denise Elliott, Durham County Council’s head of commissioning, said: “We appreciate this is a distressing time for Mr and Mrs Dixon and are continuing to work with them towards finding a satisfactory outcome.”

The issue first came to light when the home was forced to reassess the level of care it was providing following an inspection by independent watchdog the Care Quality Commission, which raised concerns about understaffing.

Additional staff have since been employed, which the home says has meant it is running at a loss.

Mr Devitt added: “The funding that Durham Council are providing for the care we are delivering to the individuals concerned does not even cover the wage bill of the support workers and nurses we employ, let alone the enormous costs of running a community-based care home.”