A WOMAN has claimed her dementia-stricken husband was denied his right to dignity in the lead-up to his death after being given 106 different carers in a year.

Jeanette Maitland said her fiercely private husband Ken would have been "horrified" by the number of people involved in his personal care at the instruction of Aberdeen's social work department.

The increasing changes to her husband's care routine have been criticised by dementia experts and charities.

Aberdeen City Council has pledged to look into the care of Mr Maitland, who died last week from a dementia-related illness.

Mrs Maitland said she began writing down the names of her husband's carers so that she could get to know them.

She said: "I started taking note of the names so I could remember properly and put a face to the name. Then each time a new face came so I kept writing, writing, writing, until we're where we are today with 106 carers."

Over the last year, Mr Maitland was allocated two carers four times a day to assist him with his care.

Mrs Maitland initially thought this would be covered by a group of about 10 staff, but up until her husband's recent admission to hospital there was a seemingly endless run of new faces turning up at their home.

She claimed that, although she had no complaints about the standard of care her husband received, it was extremely unsettling for Mr Maitland.

Mrs Maitland added: "Anyone who knows anything at all about dementia will know that they live in fear 87% of the time. Obviously the more regular the voice, the more regular the regime, the constancy of it all helps them to relax and be calm.

"Where is respect for his dignity? I feel I should have sold tickets."

Professor June Andrews, director of Stirling University's Dementia Centre, described the regime surrounding Mr Maitland as "bad care".

She said: "It is absolutely not acceptable, because of the kind of disruption that is caused to people with dementia if they are faced with too many people.

"This is something that not only happens at home in people's houses, but also hospitals. Familiarity helps reduce the symptoms of dementia, and if you are supposed to be looking after someone with dementia then presenting them with a lot of different faces is just bad care."

A spokesman for Alzheimer's Scotland said: "No-one should have to go through the experience that Jeanette Maitland and her late husband faced.

"Unjustifiably frequent changes of support and care staff are simply not acceptable in any circumstance, particularly where dementia is concerned, and we must learn some very quick lessons from this terrible situation.

"Human intervention is the main way we can tackle and treat dementia. This can only be provided by skilled staff who understand the complex nature of the illness and who can provide interventions that deal with symptoms and support people and their families to live well with dementia."

Aberdeen City Council chief executive Valerie Watts said council staff had worked hard to provide the best possible care package to Mr Maitland.

She added: "I would like to extend my sincere condolences to Mrs Maitland and her family following the sad loss of her husband Kenneth.

"I recently had a very positive meeting with Mrs Maitland where we spoke at length about the care package her husband received from the council. I gave Mrs Maitland a personal assurance I would look into the concerns she raised and respond at the earliest opportunity."