The wife of a former Scottish champion cyclist claims his last months were destroyed by constant “doping” in a controversial hospital ward. Ernie Scally suffered from Alzheimer’s but wife Helen believes he was still able to enjoy life until he was admitted to the Jura Ward, at Glasgow’s Stobhill Hospital in July 2024.
She claims Ernie was soon “zonked” up to five days a week, unable to chat or stand up due to heavy sedation, which she believes was unnecessary and designed to make him easy to manage. He died on the ward on Christmas Eve that year.
Helen, 76, contacted the Daily Record after we told how retired boxer George Maguire was given unprescribed opiate painkillers in the ward, which is subject to investigation by hospital bosses and police. Stobhill management claim several patients were wrongly given opiates over one weekend in February.
View 5 ImagesHelen and Ernie Scally
But the families of those affected claim “doping” was going on for a much longer period. Helen said: “When I read about George’s case I felt awful because I wondered if I should have kicked up more of a protest at what happened with Ernie. Maybe that would have changed things.
“I saw the photo of George, completely zonked and out of it, and it just took me back to what I was witnessing with Ernie four or five days a week. I was constantly asking why he had to be sedated all the time because it was distressing.
“He did suffer from Alzheimer’s but on days when he wasn’t doped to the eyeballs he was able to enjoy people’s company and his food. I watched Ernie fade away before my eyes and I have absolutely no doubt he could have had far longer time with me and a far greater quality of life in those last months if he’d never been admitted to that place.”
Ernie had been a cyclist all his life and was a member of the Glasgow Nightingale Cycling Club. He rode for the British Army team and represented Scotland at the 1958 Commonwealth Games in Wales.
Helen said: “He kept riding his bike for many years and he was still a strong man when he was admitted to Stobhill but the constant sedation knocked the life out of him. I kept a diary of what I was seeing and it’s full of observations about the state I was finding him in, hardly able to open his eyes or stand on his own feet.”
After reading our original story about the opiates controversy at Stobhill in February, Helen contacted the hospital. She received a letter that assured her there was “a specific incident” that month that would not have affected Ernie.
The letter adds: “Based on the information available, we are satisfied that these matters would not have had any bearing on your husband’s care during his admission.”
View 5 ImagesOur original story in February reflected the concern of the family of George Maguire
The letter also claims that Ernie’s Alzheimer’s brought an “acute physical decline” and that it would be difficult to investigate his case due to the passage of time from December 2024 to now.
Helen said: “They are telling me there’s nothing to see at the Jura Ward but I wonder how many families there are out there who would disagree?”
Helen extracted diary entries that questioned the level of sedation applied to Ernie. On September 8, 2024, she wrote: “Phone call from C**** (nurse) to say maybe visit in afternoon as he had sedation and taking him back to bed! Too late, his friend was at house after driving up from West Kilbride – TOTALLY ZONKED. His friend (another cyclist) was extremely upset!”
On October 12 she noted: “Day before being Blue Lighted to Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Three visits on that day. Totally out of it. So I’m sure that’s why he collapsed and ended up in GRI on the Sunday.”
She said: “My diary is full of this stuff, noting all the sleeping he was doing and all the falls he had. I don’t believe this was due to his condition. I believe patients were being drugged just to keep them quiet.”
View 5 ImagesThe inspectors found nursing staff are regularly working additional hours, and that there is a reliance on “bank” staff or staff from adult wards(Image: Google Maps)
Helen said she had also read with interest the revelations in a BBC documentary in February 2025 about the Skye House ward at Stobhill – where young patients claimed they were treated inhumanly by nurses and drugged roughly and excessively. One girl said told the BBC: “A lot of the patients were like walking zombies, me included.
“Like a lot of the time we were just sedated to the point where I guess our personalities were dimmed.”
Helen, from Carmyle, Glasgow, added: “There should certainly be a full investigation of what is going on at that hospital, particularly in the way they drug patients who might be seen as difficult. But they should not simply be investigating themselves and putting it all down to one isolated incident.”
View 5 ImagesKathleen McMillan’s dad George was given opiates while in Jura Ward at Stobhill hospital. Pictured with mum Margaret Maguire and (blue) and Maureen Cahill.
Helen and Ernie, 87, were together for 43 years but only got married in 2011. The Daily Record has told how police were notified by Stobhill bosses after we revealed that several patients were given opiates in February.
The wife and daughters of former boxer and boxing trainer George Maguire have since given statements to Police Scotland about the rapid deterioration in George when the entered the Jura Ward, where they claim to have observed patients in a “zombie” state. George’s condition improved when he was moved from the ward at the end of February – at which point his family believed him to be close to death.
George’s daughter Maureen Cahill, a former psychiatric nurse, claims the “doping” appeared to be happening for several weeks earlier the time isolated by the hospital.
Glasgow MSP Paul Sweeney said he would write to Health Secretary Angela Constance to seek assurances that elderly care at Stobhill is under control. He also questions a potential wider culture of doping and inhumane care at the hospital.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said a Serious Adverse Event Review remains “fully under way” following an incident involving a “small number” of patients. A spokesperson said: “Comprehensive assurance work has been undertaken within the ward and across all mental health inpatient wards at Stobhill.
Article continues below
“This has provided reassurance that the issues identified were isolated, with no wider concerns identified.” They added: “We also referred the matter to Police Scotland and have fully cooperated with their inquiries.”
NHSGGC would not discuss the case of Ernie Scally.
Get more Daily Record exclusives by signing up for free to Google’s preferred sources. Click HERE.