By STEPHEN NAYSMITH

AN 83-year-old, severely learning disabled woman is to be taken from the loving family home where she has lived for the past 18 years amid claims her care package has become too expensive.

Supporters of Margaret McEwan, from Glasgow, say she will not be able to understand what has happened to her – she is blind and non-verbal – and the move risks killing her.

Her adopted family claim they have been told her support package is too expensive, but the council argue their home no longer suits her needs.

She is among vulnerable adults who are being forced from their own homes and family as a result of cuts to social care, as experts warn of a return to widespread institutionalisation.

Councils and the new integrated joint boards which were set up to bring about more coordination between health and social care are being accused of trying to balance the books by cutting expensive care packages and encouraging disabled and elderly people into homes, often on the pretext that a person has become too frail to continue to live in their own home.

Charities have warned that in some cases the policies amount to age or disability discrimination.

Dr Simon Duffy, director of the Centre for Welfare Reform and one of the architects of independent living policies in Scotland for disabled people, has written to Glasgow City Council health and social care chief David Williams pleading for a rethink of the social work plan to move Margaret.

He said that she had lived in institutions since the age of five but had moved to stay with care worker April Smith on the closure of the notorious Lennox Castle hospital in 1996. “Margaret moved into April’s home and since that time Margaret’s quality of life has increased dramatically,” he wrote, “a change such as this will increase the risk of Mararet’s death”.

Dr Duffy has also accused Glasgow of age discrimination and breaching Ms McEwan’s human rights.

“Austerity does not justify the forcible removal of disabled people from their own homes, and, in particular, the failure to seek a more humane resolution with all those involved,” he said.

Dr Duffy said that when he first met her she was alone in Lennox Castle and because of her lack of speech and difficult behaviour, staff had little knowledge of her.

He added he was later heartened that April Smith’s family rather randomly took Margaret to their hearts, and have stuck with her for 20 years now.

A spokeswoman for Glasgow City Council said: “We are of course limited in the level of detail that we are able to provide but the council is acutely aware that people involved in delivering care support for vulnerable people are understandably concerned about their future care. When a vulnerable person’s care needs change this can require different care arrangements to be put in place.

“Our position is that when a client’s frailty and personal care needs have reached the stage that require nursing home care, then that is what we are required to provide to meet their needs. Care managers strive to work with carers to identify suitable care arrangements for such clients to allow them to continue regular contact and maintain their important relationships. We will of course always seek to manage any change sensitively and ensure ongoing support to everyone affected.”