Northern Trust: 'I went to court over lack of care for my nephew'

An investigation is to take place into the Northern Health Trust's lack of provision of care to a man with a severe brain injury.

Gareth Waterworth, from Belfast, suffered the injury when he was knocked down by a bus in 2007 while leaving Knockbracken Healthcare Park.

The then 20-year-old had been a psychiatric patient at Knockbracken.

The trust's action are to be reviewed after the family took court action in May.

The review will be conducted by the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA), which is responsible for inspecting the availability and quality of health and social care services.

Since Mr Waterworth's accident his family has been hit by further tragedy, with his father, sister, mother and grandfather - all of whom were key in caring for him - all dying.

That's left one man, his uncle Paul Herbert, in sole charge of his care since 2019.

"I'm aware there's a lot of misery in this country we live in and we don't have a monopoly but when Gareth's sister passed away aged 23 of an undiagnosed perforated stomach ulcer, my sister, Gareth's mother, was just distraught," he said.

"Then our father died and she couldn't go to the funeral because she had to look after Gareth. And then when she died, I couldn't stay with her as she was dying because I had to get home to my boy."

Roberta Waterworth was a Marie Curie nurse who suffered from a chronic lung condition. Before she died, the family began their attempt to find suitable full-time care for her son.

Mr Herbert said there had been some progress seven years ago but this came to nothing.

"In 2016, there was a 24-hour care package offered for him because there was sickness in the family with his grandfather's age and my sister's progressive illness," he said.

"But that was not honoured and, from that time, we have had to write to many different organisations to get help that hasn't come through."

Mr Herbert added: "Since my sister passed away I haven't even been offered a carers' assessment. Gareth had direct payments and they were stopped when my father died, and they never replaced them."

With no other family members to help, he now looks after Mr Waterworth 24/7.

Mr Herbert said his behaviour can be extremely unpredictable as, along with his brain injury, he also has traumatic epilepsy.

Each day follows a similar pattern, Mr Herbert said.

"In Gareth's world everything is an event. Everything has to be set out for him, and I have to make sure things go according to his plan.

"We get up, he gets washed and during the day he's very dependent on his iPad - he loves music and listens to it most of the day. He has to feel safe and secure within his environment and that takes up all day."

That battle to have care put in place came to a head in May when Mr Herbert, on his nephew's behalf, took legal action to find a resolution.

The court action was successful and, though it has taken six months, the RQIA finally contacted him last week to say it will look into it.

The human rights group Participation and Practice Of Rights (PPR) has been supporting the family.

Campaign organiser Sara Boyce said: "It beggars belief - really, it is astonishing - that following a court ruling nothing has changed, nothing has happened.

"Paul and his nephew still don't have the support they're entitled to. We see the toll this has taken on Paul as well and they shouldn't have had to take the judicial review, they shouldn't have to carry that burden to go to court."

In a statement to BBC News NI, the RQIA said: "At present, RQIA is taking steps to undertake an inquiry into this matter. It would therefore not be appropriate to comment further at this time."

BBC News NI asked the Northern Trust for a statement but it said it could not comment because of the ongoing investigation.

For Mr Herbert, his nephew's care is a reality that has been "known about for years" yet he still does not know what the RQIA or Northern Trust will do.

"Gareth still does not have the most basic of entitlements - or me, as his carer, I have not been afforded the most basic of entitlements.

"I wonder why this has happened and what is it all about? It's about one young man's care."