Mr Clode will have to travel 100 miles each time he visits his mum

Andrew Clode is unhappy that his ailing 90-year-old mother, Edna Jane, will be transferred from Bronglais hospital in Aberystwyth to a nursing unit in Cardigan next week.

Mr Clode lives in Llanfihangel y Creuddyn, seven miles south east of Aberystwyth and has been able to visit Mrs Clode regularly during her two-and-a-half month stay at the hospital.

But he claims he will find it difficult to visit Mrs Clode when she is transferred to Cardigan because he will have to make a round trip of nearly 100 miles to see her.

I have been going to visit my mother every day since she has been in hospital but now I will only be able to visit her once a week if that Andrew Clode

Mr Clode was a self-employed gardener but had to stop working because he suffers from arthritis.

He gets �81 a week incapacity benefit and claims he cannot afford to visit his mother as often as he would like.

Struggle

Ceredigion Council's social services department claim that they have no option but to transfer Mrs Clode to Cardigan because of a shortage of nursing home beds in the county.

"I have been going to visit my mother every day since she has been in hospital but now I will only be able to visit her once a week if that," said Mr Clode.

"I have struggled to look after my mother for the last few months but now she needs nursing care all the time and I know she can't come home again.

"I was told the other options apart from Cardigan were to send her to Newtown which is just as far away as Cardigan, or Oswestry, which is even further away.

"The council have to do something about enabling people to have nursing care close to their family.

Mrs Clode has been a patient at Bronglais hospital for two months

"I am very upset, something has to be done because my mother won't be able to have neighbours and friends visit her regularly."

Mr Clode will now write to MP, Simon Thomas, AM, Elin Jones and The Welsh Assembly Government's health secretary, Jane Hutt to outline his grievance.

Allan Jones, the council's assistant director for social services said he couldn't comment directly about Mr Clode's complaint but agreed there is a deficit of nursing beds in the county.

Since 1996, 89 nursing beds have been lost in Ceredigion with another 58 beds lost in other areas that could have taken people from the county.

At present there are only four nursing homes in Ceredigion.

"There is a marked lack of elderly mentally infirm (EMI) beds in the area and the only two units that people can access are at Machynlleth and Cardigan," said Mr Jones.

But a new EMI unit at Aberystwyth is proposed in the county's new unitary development plan and could be up and running within three years.

"People who run nursing homes claim the fees we pay them for looking after elderly people are not enough," said Mr Jones.

"We recognise that these fees need to rise but we need the Welsh assembly to provide us with more funds."

Another reason for the lack of beds, according to Mr Jones, is that running a nursing home is no longer seen as being profitable.

"Several owners have reached retirement age and have had a problem in selling off their homes as an ongoing business," said Mr Jones.