A London family says it has gone to extremes to keep its violent, elderly father out of long-term care facilities and in a psychiatric ward.

CTV News has learned the family is worried about their father assaulting other residents as he has done in the past and they have been pressured to return him to long-term care.

The father, Paul (not his real name), is often restrained at bedtime because of his history of violence and aggression. He suffers from dementia.

“He was in a long-term care facility in Stouffville and his behaviour had escalated to where he was becoming more and more violent,” a family member says.

When he came to London, the violence continued.

“He would pull other residents and go to other residents’ rooms and other residents would go to his. The staffing levels are so minimal there; they can't keep track of everyone,” the family member says.

There isn’t a mandated ratio of personal care support workers or nurses to patients in long-term care centres. Often, there is just one nurse for 60 patients, and 10 to 12 patients for every support worker.

At Mount Hope Centre for Long-Term Care, both he and his victim ended up in the hospital after an incident.

The family lobbied to keep Paul out of long-term care.

“When they wanted to force him back to the nursing home, I had these pictures and I said, ‘As long as you can do that (use restraints), then he can go back.’ And they couldn't. They were unable to do that.”

Paul has been at the Regional Mental Health Care since 2012 and his family was approached several times with requests to return him to long-term care.

They believe it is a matter of money as the daily cost to keep a patient in the system at Mount Hope is about $107, compared to more than $500 at the Regional Mental Health Care.

Now in a wheelchair, Paul is still often restrained in a chair, which limits his upper body movement.

His family believes that is best.

“If he is sent to another facility that doesn't have the intense supervision they have at the Regional Mental Health Care, he'll hurt somebody, or himself.”

Since Paul’s status is now palliative, the family has not been approached about moving him.

But they are concerned that other aggressive dementia patients are being pushed into setting that could endanger others.