Elderly couple torn apart by NHS

 

Margaret Peterson with a picture of her and Charles in happier times

 

By Cara Sulieman

AN ELDERLY couple who have been married for 25 years have been forced 13 miles apart by the NHS because of red tape.

Charles Peterson, 88, was refused a place in a care home in his hometown because his step-daughter works there.

And now his wife Margaret, 82, has to make a 26 mile round trip to North Berwick to visit her husband from her home in Dunbar.

The couple only spent a few days apart in their 25 years of marriage – even travelling the world together when Charles got a job in Saudi Arabia – until he had to be taken into hospital following a stroke in early 2008.