A COUPLE accused of overcharging care home residents by thousands of pounds for hot meals and outings have dropped a legal challenge to reverse an NHS ban on them receiving new admissions.
Mildred Wylie (63), a registered nurse, and her husband Norman (65), who have run Bawn Cottage in Hamiltonsbawn and its sister home, Hebron House, in Markethill for more than 20 years, were accused of "significant financial abuse" against six vulnerable people.
The Wylies deny all wrongdoing.
While the Southern Health and Social Care Trust imposed a ban in 2013 on new people being referred to the Co Armagh facilities, the full scale of the allegations has never been made public.
The Irish News has seen copies of legal documents which detail for the first time the findings of a high-level NHS probe.
It reveals how concerns still exist within the trust, warning earlier this year that the "potential for abuse remains" - a claim strongly refuted by the Wylies, who say their reputation is being destroyed.
Read more:
Residents charged £1,600 to go to Daniel O'Donnell concert'
Health trust ruining our reputation claim Wylies
"It is of great concern to the trust that issues relating to financial matters, pertaining to current residents, continue to arise despite the ongoing intense scrutiny and monitoring by trust staff," said Bryce McMurray, director of mental health at the trust, who signed the organisation's affidavit earlier this year.
Health chiefs have spent almost 3,000 hours probing documents dating back to the early 1990s and made allegations of overcharging for day care meals, transport for day trips, supervision and expenditure on foreign holidays.
Questions are raised about the alleged failure of the Wylies to disclose financial documents relating to vulnerable residents who "lack capacity to manage their own affairs".
Adults with learning disabilities and mental illness were among those offered places at the Co Armagh homes.
Police investigated the case and referred it to the Public Prosecution Service who decided not to prosecute in February 2015 as the "test for prosecution for fraud was not met to the requisite criminal standard", according to the trust probe.
An attempt to ban the couple from operating care homes also emerged in late 2012 when the health watchdog, the RQIA, deemed the owners unfit to run their facilities following the trust probe - and served them with 'notices of proposal' to cancel their registration.
The Wylies took legal action and challenged the trust's findings.
Two years later the watchdog carried out a financial investigation, in which inspectors accused the couple of a "persistent lack of integrity and good character" over financial matters dating back to RQIA inspections in 2011 which they said “calls into questions the fitness of Mr and Mrs Wylie”.
RQIA inspectors also alleged they were "misled" by the Wylies, claiming there was a failure "to disclose relevant documents and records during financial inspections".
Despite the watchdog's concerns, its proposal to cancel the couple's registration was dropped or "stayed" in December 2015 after it was deemed to be an "abuse of process on grounds which arose from complex disclosure issues", according to the trust report.
"Thereafter the RQIA abandoned any enforcement proceedings," the report adds.
Residents are still cared for across the two facilities after officials deemed a move to new premises would be too traumatic for those who had been living there on a long-term basis.
The full extent of the allegations only come to light after the Wylies mounted a High Court challenge last November to lift the ban on new people coming to their homes.
At the eleventh hour, the couple withdrew their bid for a judicial review during a hearing in Belfast in March.
The Irish News has seen a copy of the Southern health trust’s scathing legal submission – forwarded to the High Court in January this year - in response to the Wylies' challenge.
Trust chiefs said they continue to have "great concern" about the handling of finances due to the Wylies' "failure" to accept their report's findings and "failure to engage meaningfully with the trust".
The affidavit concludes with Mr McMurray reiterating his concern for residents still in the homes, but saying that to remove them could be "potentially more damaging to their wellbeing than the risks from them remaining".
He adds: "The trust would say that it is of huge importance that vulnerable members of society be placed in residential establishments which have been assessed by the state as providing a safe environment for them.
"Preventing such people from the risk of residing in establishments where financial abuse is believed to have occurred is a more important consideration that the livelihood of two people."
Residents 'charged £1,600 to go to O'Donnell concert'
A group of elderly care home residents were allegedly charged £1,600 to travel to a Daniel O’Donnell concert just seven miles away.
Mildred Wylie and her husband Norman are also said to have accompanied a brain-damaged man on 'multiple' holidays costing him £51,000.
Ms Wylie's sister also travelled on some of the trips, it is claimed, with her travel also funded by the resident.
Two adult safeguarding investigations were carried out by the Southern Health Trust in 2012/13 into alleged financial abuse at Bawn Cottage and Hebron House in Co Armagh, with many of the claims stretching back over 20 years.
Thousands of pounds of excess charges for residents' meals, outings, mileage rates and supervision are alleged by the trust, with investigators warning that concerns remain due to "lack of repayments" by home owners Norman and Mildred Wylie.
Trust chiefs also reveal they have referred Mrs Wylie to her professional body, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, for a second time.
The first referral found her guilty of misconduct in relation to the care of an elderly woman and led to a sanction being imposed in 2011, which was removed after two years.
Major concerns alleged by trust chiefs include the case of 'Mr A' who had suffered brain damage following an accident.
The investigation claimed that:
The Wylies accompanied Mr A on numerous local and overseas holidays dating back more than 25 years and costing him £51,000.
Just over £22,000 was left in a £200,000 compensation fund awarded to Mr A by the time he was moved from Hebron House to a nursing home where no additional payments were required.
The Wylies' "repeatedly" claimed Mr A had been placed in their care more than 20 years ago by a social worker - but the trust insists no record of this placement could be found.
Allegations were also made in relation to 'Mr C', an elderly man suffering from depression with a private trust fund amounting to £180,000:
The report claimed that an extra charge of £170 per week was imposed for Mr C's care, with the Wylies' claiming additional care was required for ‘physical illness’. Investigators found no evidence to support this.
The family of Mr C were also said to have questioned extra charges by the Wylies after he was moved to a nursing home in 2008 where no extra fees were required.
Evidence of weekly overcharging above the regional rate was also allegedly discovered in relation to two other residents.
Day trips and social outings were also probed following concerns about overcharging for mileage rates:
A 13.6 mile return trip to a Daniel O’Donnell concert in Armagh was said to have cost 19 residents £1,602 in transport costs alone. They had to pay an additional £34 each for their tickets.
A Christmas dinner at the Cohannon Inn in Coalisland allegedly cost 16 residents almost £3,000 for a 42-mile round trip and supervision. The meal was an extra £20 each.
Investigators also claimed that a resident, Mrs ‘E’, claimed a Motability car from 1993 to 1996 in Mrs Wylie’s name. It was alleged that the trust provided transport to a day care centre four days a week and her family picked her up at weekends.
The resident’s family also said Mrs E "did not like going out in the evening" and they "were not aware" of any mobility car. No explanation was said to have been given to the trust for mileage claims on the DLA car.
In addition, investigators claimed there was overcharging for day care meals involving 19 residents amounting to almost £10,000 between 2004 and 2011.
When trust investigators approached the Wylies the hot meals were said to have been switched to packed lunches. It is claimed the couple agreed to make repayments of almost £7,000 but £2,957 remains outstanding.
The trust concludes that it must continue to refuse the admission of new patients until the findings of its investigation have been "satisfactorily addressed".
"The rationality behind the measure is to ensure that no vulnerable person can be subject to financial abuse."
Trust ruining our reputation claim Wylies
NORMAN and Mildred Wylie have flatly denied all allegations of wrongdoing and insisted they are "persons of good character".
The couple have hit out at the Southern health trust's decision to ban new residents being referred to their homes over the past four years, accusing them of ruining their professional reputation within the close-knit village of Markethill.
Legal documents seen by The Irish News contain a lengthy affidavit from Mr Wylie, in which he defends their position and refutes the findings of the trust's probes.
He refers to the trust's first 'adult safeguarding' investigation in February 2012 and stresses that "at no point" did he or his wife receive any complaints from residents or relatives over money.
Following the trust's findings of "significant financial abuse" against six vulnerable adults, concerns were raised about the existing 37 residents and whether they should be relocated to new premises - a move Mr Wylie said was "very distressing" for long-term residents, accusing trust chiefs of acting in a "callous" manner.
The matter was referred to the PSNI and police raided the two Co Armagh care homes as well as the family home in Dungannon in October 2012, seizing documents and computers.
The PSNI launched an investigation under the 2006 Fraud Act and recommended to the PPS that a prosecution take place.
"We both denied all the offences alleged against us… Needless to say both Mildred and myself are persons of good character who had never before had any adverse dealings with the police," said Mr Wylie.
His statement adds: "I deny that the six residents considered in this report were subject to financial abuse. I dispute the accuracy of many aspects of the trust report and do not consider that it is a reliable document.”
Police referred the case to the Public Prosecution Service, but in February 2015 the PPS decided not to prosecute.
One of the major concerns cited by the trust was overcharging for day care meals away from the homes - with vulnerable residents allegedly billed an extra £10,000 for hot meals in a day centre.
Mr Wylie conceded overcharging and agreed to repay £6,923 - a sum of money the trust claim they cannot trace and are still demanding the full £9,881.05.
In his legal submission, Mr Wylie states: "I am endeavouring to find a copy of a bank statement showing the transfer from my account to the residents' account. The transfers are each recorded within residents' cash books... but remain within the custody of the trust following the seizure of documentation by the PSNI.
"…I consider this significant payment demonstrates our willingness to co-operate with the authorities so as to ensure that any legitimate compliance issues are rectified so as to protect the interests of residents."
A key part of the Wylies' case in arguing for the trust's ban on new admissions to be lifted is the actions of the health watchdog RQIA - who had initially threatened to withdraw the couple’s registration.
The RQIA carried out two unannounced inspections in 2015 and last year, finding "safe, effective and compassionate care with all standards being met", according to Mr Wylie.
He also singles out comments made by a senior health chief at the Southern trust to the couple's solicitor, claiming the trust had "no current concern regarding the financial operation" - a position the trust report rejects.
In his affidavit, Mr Wylie accepts there have been "compliance" issues with watchdog standards in the past, but says he and his wife "deny any claim of financial abuse".
He appeals for all issues to be resolved urgently.
"What issues remain between us and the trust can and should be resolved between us without the need for the trust to continue to suspend all new placements," he wrote.
"This amounts to a blanket ban on such placements and this is simply not justified nor proportionate in all the circumstances."
He specifically refutes overcharging a resident of almost £3,000, saying he doesn’t know how the trust calculated the amount and adding that the resident's family are "fully aware of the issue" and "persistently refused to accept that any degree of reimbursement was required".
Referring to allegations of overcharging for residents' transport, Mr Wylie claims these should "not justify" the continued suspension of new placements.
"These are matters for discussion and hopefully resolution between us and the trust," he adds.
Mr Wylie concludes by accusing trust chiefs of being motivated by an "improper desire to see us punished" for historical financial abuse "which has not been established".
"The trust are effectively usurping the proper role of and function of the RQIA who could have pursued de-registration which would have effectively led to the closure of both our homes. The RQIA have chosen voluntarily not to pursue that action.
"I am also very concerned about the impact the continued suspension is having on our reputation within our working lives and within our local community.
"The trust maintain that we have been guilty of financial abuse against people in our care to the extent they can’t place any new residents with us. This undermines our reputations and working lives, built up over many years of hard work and dedication to the people that we look after."
Who are Norman and Mildred Wylie?
Care home owners Norman and Mildred Wylie are also active members of the Armagh Elim Pentecostal Church, where Mr Wylie holds an official ‘elder’ position among its leaders.
They recently travelled to Kenya with the Church and then took part in an event with the Elim ‘kids ministry’ in which they shared their experiences.
In addition to their residential homes business, Mr Wylie is the director of Springwell Renewables Ltd, a company specialising in the disposal of non-hazardous waste – with assets listed last year of £2.3 million.
He was also appointed as the company director of a second firm, Benia Foods, last August. Mr Wylie’s favourite pastime is water-skiing. Both Norman and Mildred Wylie acted as directors of another company, now called PPW Farms, but resigned last summer, handing the reins over to family members Pamela and Philip Wylie who are listed as the new directors.
Mrs Wylie has been a registered nurse since 1975. In 2011 she appeared before a misconduct hearing on charges relating to the care of an elderly woman with mobility problems at Hebron House in 2007.
It emerged that 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 nursing regulator revealed that 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.
