A mother and daughter have received a pay out after a care home tried to restrict the amount of time they spent together.

Jayne Sullivan, 59, had reluctantly put her mother Freda Sullivan, 88, into Willow Lodge in Cheam in 2009 as her dementia was proving too difficult to cope with at home.

Within a week of Mrs Sullivan being at Willow Lodge, the owners had told her daughter she must not see her mother as often as it was disturbing the peace in the home because the visits were causing Mrs Sullivan to be disruptive.

Miss Sullivan said the "draconian" restrictions were outrageous. She said: "The home knew the difficulties my mother has, and they knew she needed one to one care because St Helier Hospital had told them so, and they agreed to it. They said they could cope, but within a week they restricted visiting hours, it was absolutely outrageous. It is a care home not a prison."

The care home even tried to stop the 88-year-old going to hospital appointments as it said it was not in Mrs Sullivan's best interests But now, after taking on a three year battle on her own against Sutton and Merton Primary Care Trust (PCT) and Sutton Council, both have been forced to admit they were wrong.

The PCT backed the restrictions, so it has been forced by the Local Government Ombudsman and the Parliamentary and Heath Service Ombudsman to apologise and pay the family for its failings. Sutton Council, as it failed to "respond appropriately to the restrictions" placed on Mrs Sullivan, it has also apologised and been forced to pay up.

Miss Sullivan said: "I want this to go out as a warning to other people who are considering putting their loved ones into a care home. Some do not seem to have changed much since the Victorian days, Willow Lodge felt like an institution rather than a care home. They took my mum and treated her like their property."

A spokesman for Trilodge Limited, the registered provider operating Willow Lodge Care Home, said: "At all times the primary objective of all staff working at Willow Lodge is to provide the best possible care for service users and to ensure that their best interests are looked after."

Councillor Colin Stears, chairman of adult social services and health committee, said: “We are deeply sorry for the upset and inconvenience caused to Miss Sullivan and her mother.

“We listened very closely to Miss Sullivan’s concerns and those of the Local Government Ombudsman and have taken steps to improve the service we offer to residents.

“We have strengthened our monitoring processes, initiated a staff training programme and added further checks when social workers review residential care providers.

“We are also working closely with carers to in order to further safeguard the borough’s more vulnerable residents.”

A spokesperson for NHS South West London said: "We have apologised to Ms Sullivan and her family for the failings identified by the Ombudsman and we have accepted their recommended actions.

These are: to ensure that all relevant staff undergo training to ensure they understand their responsibilities under Deprivation of Liberty safeguards (DOLs); working closely with the London Borough of Sutton and the care home to make sure that understanding and awareness of DOLs is embedded in practice; compensating Ms Sullivan and her family for the time it has taken to pursue the matter and any distress this may have caused