A WIDOWER is petitioning for the nurses who helped him through his wife’s struggle with dementia to be reinstated.

Neville Hughes, 81, whose wife Mina died in January last year, has collected more than 1,000 names.

He is urging Harrow Council and NHS Harrow to reconsider their decision to terminate the contracts of the only two Admiral Nurses in Harrow.

The service, which provides advice and expertise for family members caring for someone with dementia, was axed on January 1.

The Balmoral Road resident, who is seeking more people to sign the petition, said: “I have been absolutely staggered by the number of people who are worried about this. I have opened up a hornets’ nest.”

Admiral Nurses are part-funded by local authorities and the charity was employed by Central and North West London NHS Trust.

Paul Najsarek, corporate director of adult services at Harrow Council, said: “The council did help to pay towards the initial set-up and running costs of the Admiral Nurses project in Harrow.

“However, following an 18-month process of reviewing all the funding provided to voluntary organisations, funding stopped in January. This decision was made at the end of a transparent and thorough process, which prioritised social care related projects over health care projects such as Admiral Nurses.”

There are 80 such nurses nationwide and Harrow is the only local authority to terminate the service completely.

Barbara Stephens, chief executive of Dementia UK, which trains the Admiral Nurses, said: “In many areas there is an economic squeeze, but the nurses are so highly valued no one else has cut the service as they have done in Harrow. It is disappointing.

“We would be very keen to reinstate the nurses in the borough.”

Harrow West Labour MP Gareth Thomas said: “I support Neville Hughes in his request for the reinstatement of the Admiral Nursing Service in Harrow, and have signed the petition.

“However, I fear that the spending cuts being imposed by the government will mean that Neville Hughes’ worthy campaign will be unsuccessful.”

The petition will be presented to the council and NHS Harrow on Thursday next week.