JOHN Duffey has vowed his wife, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, will never return to hospital after he secretly filmed her apparently being neglected at Warminster Hospital.

Marion Duffey, 73, who is unable to feed herself and requires 24-hour care, spent a month at the hospital but has since returned home after her husband discovered what he says is the shocking care she was receiving.

The footage shows Mrs Duffey being force fed when sleeping, being moved by two nurses using the bottom bed sheet rather than a slide sheet and a nurse coughing into a tissue before using it to feed her.

She was also left crying out in her room with the door closed for more than an hour before anyone checked on her.

The Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which is responsible for the Warminster Hospital, has suspended a member of staff and launched an investigation as a result of the footage.

Mr Duffey, 75, who is retired but now cares for his wife at their home in Warminster, said: “She kept on saying she was frightened and she’s never said that to me before.

“So I put a camera in there to see what was happening and it was in there for three or four nights.

“I couldn’t believe it when I saw the footage, I didn’t think the hospital was like that.

“We made an appointment to see the matron and her reaction was she didn’t know it was going on and when we showed her the footage she actually broke down crying.”

Grandmother of three Mrs Duffey was first diagnosed with dementia seven years ago, but only became confined to bed earlier this year.

Mr Duffey said: “At our 50th wedding anniversary in 2013 you could see she had dementia but she could walk perfectly and communicate with people and we had a party at my daughter’s house in Warminster.

“We’ve always been a close family and look after each other.

“We used to take the grandchildren out all the time and have Christmas with them, and I think it has been hard for them to see her like this as she saw them grow up.

“She liked watching all the soaps on TV and old films and she loved doing housework and being busy.”

But Mrs Duffey had to be admitted to hospital in Salisbury in July and was later moved to Warminster.

Mr Duffey said: “You expect to go in there to get better, not go in there to die.

“It seems that when you can’t talk to anybody you are chucked to one room and left there.

“They said about putting her in a home but that would be no different than the hospital.

“It’s about time the government started cracking down on this sort of thing and as long as I’m alive she won’t be going back into a hospital.

“I thought we were going to enjoy the rest of our life together a year ago but since she went into hospital she’s been knocked back and you don’t get better from Alzheimer’s, you only get worse.”

Mr Duffey has released video footage showing Marion in hospital, below, in this case showing some of the good care she received.

The couple have lived in Warminster since they married in 1963, with Mr Duffey working for his father’s company hauling tarmac and gravel and Mrs Duffey raising their two daughters, Debra and Amanda.

Mrs Duffey is now being cared for at home by her husband and one of her daughters as well as carer Adeline Dalley, who has been looking after her for more than a year.

Mrs Dalley, who has 17 years of experience in the care industry, said: “I came in one day [at the hospital] and she was crying because she’d been left in a dark room with the TV turned up and she had been shouting out for more than an hour.

“They said they hadn’t heard her because the door was shut but it shouldn’t have been shut because on her notes it said she didn’t like the dark or having doors closed.

“On the clips there are some examples of good care and a lot of her carers did show they were taking their roles seriously.

“It’s a minority not a majority who didn’t do their job.”