Two women involved in legal action against Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust have found themselves banned from visiting patients, including an elderly family-friend receiving treatment in a local hospital.

Nadia Feldmeier, 32, and her mother Ellinor had attempted to visit Lucie Walters, an 86-year-old long-standing friend of the family with no relatives in the UK, who was admitted to Barry Hospital in August 2007 after complaining of memory loss and balance problems.

They were initially allowed to do so, but were ejected from the hospital and threatened with arrest after returning for a second visit two days later. In a meeting with hospital staff that took place on 15 April this year, a member of NHS management told them that the Trust was excluding them as visitors pending their civil case.

“It’s a vendetta against us, and by depriving an elderly lady of her visitors they’re punishing an innocent third party,” Nadia said.

Nadia and Ellinor began a malpractice claim against the Trust after the death of Nadia’s grandmother, Ruth Feldmeier, in 2005, following several stays in the Heath Hospital in Cardiff and Llandough Hospital in Penarth over a number of years.

Last year, the pair received a restraining order from Cardiff Crown Court to keep them out of Llandough and Heath hospitals, with the aim of preventing continuing protests against Dr Colin Gelder and Dr Joseph Grey, who had been responsible for treating Ruth Feldmeier.

However this document not only doesn’t apply to Barry Hospital, but specifically permits them to enter even the former hospitals for the purpose of visiting patients or receiving treatment. The Feldmeiers are challenging the legality of the Trust banning them from a publicly funded organisation without a further court order.

A senior manager from the Trust, Ann Morgan, said: “We don’t randomly ban anybody from our premises That being said, we’ve got a duty of care to the people who use our establishments. We’ve got a duty of care to the patients, to our staff, and to visitors as well.”

When asked if allowing the Feldmeiers onto hospital premises would put any of those categories of people at risk, she added: “I’m not saying that. I’m not implying there is danger to anybody here, but what I’m implying is that we have a duty of care to our staff, our patients and our visitors who come into our premises.”

Mrs Morgan further claimed that to reveal any more risked breaching patient confidentiality. However she also confirmed that the Feldmeiers’ visiting ban is not restricted to Mrs Walters, and that they are in fact not allowed to visit any hospital-patient in Cardiff or the Vale of Glamorgan.