Navy widow gets lift from forces group
Navy widow Joan Britton has thanked a forces charity for buying her a stairlift after she was forced to climb to bed on her hands and knees.
The 79-year-old has a new lease of life now she can use her 5,000 stairlift paid for by the SSAFA Forces Help.
The widow of ex-Chief Stoker Bertie Britton, who died in 2004, is no longer reliant on grandchildren Dow, 17, and Kwarn, 12, to help her.
'I am so grateful for this lift, it makes a big difference to my life,' said Mrs Britton, of Coleridge Road, Paulsgrove.
'I've got arthritis and before I had to go up and down stairs on all fours, it was horrible.
'Before I didn't want to leave my bedroom, I was stuck there until my granddaughters came home from school each day.'
But John Erskine, of SSAFA, has criticised Portsmouth City Council for being too slow to offer her help.
He was contacted by Mrs Britton in May last year and called the council to ask for funding. But in June he received a letter from the occupational therapy team saying a visitor could take up to 16 weeks to come to the house.
So Mr Erskine raised the money through SSAFA – also known as the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association – and the lift was in place for Christmas.
He said: 'We are pleased that Joan can get around now, that's a major positive for her.
'But the case highlights an ongoing problem we have with getting support because of a general lack of resources.
'We said Mrs Britton needed a stairlift and had already sent our own therapist to assess it, but they just don't have the staff to be able to visit.'
The council refused to discuss Mrs Britton's case, but admitted resources were limited for non-urgent cases.
Margaret Geary, council strategic director for health, housing and social care, said: 'Our number one priority is to protect and support those who are most vulnerable, and we make sure those who are in most need of help are seen as quickly as possible, usually within two or three days.
'We know that people with lower levels of need have to wait for support but we do not have unlimited resources and any additional funding put into the occupational therapy service would have to come from another area of social care where people's needs are just as pressing.'
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Friday 25 May 2012
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