Former prima ballerina loses legal fight for an overnight carer

A FORMER prima ballerina left disabled by a stroke has lost her legal battle to get an overnight carer.

Elaine McDonald, 67, told the Court of Appeal that she was not incontinent, had a horror of using pads which she considered an "affront to her dignity" and wanted help to use a commode.

Ms McDonald, who was once a star of Scottish Ballet and was made an OBE in 1983, was left with reduced mobility after her stroke in September 1999 and now needs to use a wheelchair outside.

At home in her London flat, her partner provided the majority of her care until 2006, when she broke her hip in a fall, but he was no longer in good health, said Lord Justice Rix.

Ms McDonald argued that the care package she received from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, to cover her assessed needs during the day and night, should include assistance at night to use a commode.

She challenged the borough's decision of November 2008 to reduce the amount allocated to her weekly care from 703 to 450.

The first figure paid for a carer for ten hours a night, seven nights a week, as well as her day-time care, while the latter figure was assessed on the basis of 375 for day-time care and 75 for the provision of pads at night.