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Take a shower – some time next year
• MY parents, aged 76 and 78, have lived in the same flat on the St Pancras Way estate for 44 years, always paying full rent.
It is only in the last few years that they have become ill and needed help. After being told by Camden social services that they needed a walk-in shower to replace the bath they are unable to get into, they received an “adaptation request form” which states that my mother “has been assessed by an occupational therapist according to the London boroughs’ criteria under the Chronically Sick and Disabled Person Act 1970 and that it is essential that they have the following adaption – removal of bath and installation of wet floor shower and associated works”.
This was signed by the occupational therapist and signed and agreed by the supervisor. It states that my mother is a disabled person as defined by section 100 of the Housing Grants and Regeneration Act 1996. This was dated October 23. It is accompanied by full specifications of the job and detailed scale drawings of the current and proposed layouts.
On November 6 my mother received a letter from the same occupational therapist asking for the documents to be signed which will be passed to the housing department’s occupational therapy surveyor who will seek quotations for the adaptation and once a contractor is selected, he will place an order for the adaptation.
This made it sound like it was cut and dried and we were all delighted when we got this news.
However, on November 19 the same occupational therapist wrote to my parents and said that “when funds are available this team will arrange for a building contractor to carry out the necessary works, but there is a waiting list and the council does not have funds to complete them all immediately and it is anticipated that you may have to wait for a year or more for your adaptations to be installed”.
All I can say is “thank you very much for building up all of our hopes”. My parents do need the shower unit badly, but perhaps Camden Council wants to stall it so that these two elderly people might snuff it before they have to shell out any money on the conversion work.
To add insult to injury, on November 26 they received a letter from Councillor Keith Moffitt, leader of the Council, which states: “Camden Council are creating a borough of opportunity for older citizens who are important and valuable members of our community and I am delighted to support this opportunity so that we can listen and respond to what you tell us is important, and we have been working to improve the quality of life for older citizens, and we have been working with you to develop a range of opportunities to meet your needs and aspirations”.
To quote Catherine Tate “What a load of old xxxx.”
MARTIN CLARK
, SE1
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