A NURSE who owns two Co Armagh care homes that were at the centre of a massive NHS probe into financial wrongdoing is being investigated by her professional body for a second time.
Mildred Wylie who, with her husband Norman, runs Bawn Cottage in Hamiltonsbawn and its sister home, Hebron House in Markethill, is to face new disciplinary charges by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) linked to "significant" financial abuse of six vulnerable people.
Last month the Irish News revealed that health chiefs warned the "potential for abuse" still remained at the facilities which were banned from taking in new admissions four years ago after a damning Southern health trust investigation.
Thousands of pounds of excess charges for residents' meals, outings, mileage rates and supervision were alleged, with investigators claiming a "lack of repayments" by the Wylies.
In one case, a group of pensioners were allegedly charged £1,600 to travel to a Daniel O’Donnell concert just seven miles away, while £51,000 was alleged to have been taken from a brain-damaged patient for 'multiple' holidays abroad with him
Investigators also claimed Mrs Wylie had a Disability Living Allowance car for three years in a resident's name even though the pensioner never used the car and her family were not aware of a mobility car.
The couple, who are active members Armagh Elim Pentecostal Church, strongly deny all allegations and lodged a legal challenge to reverse the ban – which they dropped at the eleventh hour in March.
While the NMC has refused to comment on the case, details of its decision to enforce new disciplinary charges emerged during a High Court hearing in Belfast yesterday.
Legal representatives for the Southern health trust confirmed the regulator wrote to Mrs Wylie in March this year stating there was a "case to answer" and she would face disciplinary charges before a professional committee.
The hearing will take place within three to six months.
MrsWylie, who has been a registered nurse since 1975, appeared before a misconduct hearing four years ago on charges relating to the poor care of an elderly woman with mobility problems at Hebron House in 2007.
It emerged Mrs Wylie had refused to allow the woman to return to the home, where she had lived for nine years, even though she was discharged medically fit from hospital.
The NMC revealed Mrs Wylie left the elderly patient in her sister’s car for almost two hours at 11pm. She received a caution order for 18 months that was lifted after two years.
During yesterday's hearing the Southern health trust applied for costs linked to the Wylies' application for a judicial review due to the large amount of time spent by trust officials on the case. The application was refused.
