STAFF at a Teesside care home were gagged and tied up with ribbon as part of a protest against what they see as discrimination by a local authority.

David McArthur, a psychiatric nurse who runs Mulroy Nursing Home, Normanby, is fighting Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's decision to cap payments for mentally ill people who have been in residential care since 1993.

Changes in the law mean that, from this week, the council will have to pay for more than 100 patients in the area. It is not increasing its weekly payments.

Mr McArthur believes this will cripple small care homes and mean that many elderly people with long-term mental illness will suffer.

Yesterday, Mr McArthur dressed as the Mad Hatter and spoke from a wheelie bin while colleagues were tied to chairs with red tape, had ear muffs put on them and were gagged to represent the way the patients and staff were being treated.

Mr McArthur said: "Our home for adults with mental illness is a specialist home with a 24-hour registered mental nurse present and a supportive and excellent care team. We will be denied £412 a month, which is a lot of money to the smallest home in Redcar and Cleveland."

Council lead member for social services and health Pat Harford said the authority was allocated a £1.75m grant.

"Current calculations indicate that, at this time, there is a £120,000 funding gap and we have sympathy with those homes that are awaiting the outcome of our assessment.

"Reassessments will be completed by October. During this time, the homes will continue to receive the same rate of payment as they are getting from the DSS (Department of Social Security) - for example, at Mulroy Nursing Home it is £343 per person per week. If necessary, this will be readjusted to reflect these reassessments.