Helping the Disabled

12.00.00am GMT Wed 12th Nov 2008

Liberal Democrats keep challenging the poor performance of the Council in taking more than a year to fit housing adaptations.

Val Manning contacted Councillor Saghir Akhtar to say that, because of her disability, she was finding it more and more difficult to get in and out of the bath. Saghir contacted the Council straight away to arrange for her to be assessed for a walk-in shower but it took 5 months and continued pressure from Saghir before this finally took place.

After seeing Mrs Manning, the Council agreed that a stair lift and walk-in shower were needed. The stair lift was fitted 4 months later but Mrs. Manning was told that she would have to wait at least 9 months for the shower-more than a year after she first made the request!

This is not a one-off problem. The Council knows that there is a 12 month backlog in the need for adaptations to allow people with disabilities to live at home. This will cost £1.5 million pounds to clear

A recent council report admitted that the Council were not doing enough to sort the problem out.

Parliamentary Spokesperson Councillor Tony Sutton said, "This is not good enough. There are people all across Nottingham waiting in pain and suffering. The Liberal Democrats have proposed budget amendments to provide more funding and the Labour Group have rejected them. It seems that they think that repaving the Market Square is more important than the needs of disabled residents!

"They always seem to be able to find the money to pay off Chief Executives!"