A 76-year-old woman with Parkinson's has been unable to use her flat for almost a month, as her radiators stopped working.
Pauline Ramsden has a retirement flat in Link House, a housing complex run by Riverside in Southport. However, her radiators stopped working on November 28.
She was issued with a portable electric heater to deal with the cold until the problem was fixed. However, Pauline was injured when she tripped over the heater and has had to live with her niece Sue Pudge, 53, since.
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Sue told the ECHO that the heating has not been fixed and Pauline did not want to return to the flat until it was. After the ECHO contacted Riverside, a spokesperson said that an external contractor will be visiting Pauline's flat today to fix the issue.
Sue is very disappointed with the service she has received and cannot believe that Pauline has not been able to use her flat since late November.
She told the ECHO: “She’s (Pauline) been in sheltered housing now for seven years. She’s in a little self-contained bedsit and she’s quite self-sufficient, even though she does have Parkinson’s and has had it for 12 years.
“Her heating went off and they gave her a little heater, she stuck it on, but she tripped on it. A plumber came round on November 28 and said that my auntie needed three new radiators. In the meantime, she came back to mine."
For Sue, caring for Pauline has not been easy. She lives in a bungalow in Southport with her mum, who has dementia.
She added: "My auntie came back here. I’ve been ringing Riverside and I’ve had absolutely no joy at all. I put a complaint in with Riverside and they said someone would get back to me".
"She can't sleep in the bed because it's too high and because of her Parkinson’s, she’s frightened to fall over. So she’s living in the front room in a small chair, propped up with pillows and a quilt."
"In the meantime, my mum is going through stages where she doesn’t know who her sister is, it’s really, really difficult. I’m trying to keep everyone safe, but I’m being run off my feet doing three meals a day, shopping and the washing, I’ve got to go out to work. All these things are having a knock on effect on all of us.
"My auntie doesn’t know when she’s going back or if she’s going back. We’re just getting nowhere, this has been going on since November 28 and nobody has been to help or put me in the right direction.
"I’m just being told that somebody will give me a ring and nothing’s happening. It’s neglect. She has no children and she’s said ‘Sue, if I didn’t have you, what the heck would I do?’.
"She’s paying for that service, she’s paying so that if she has a fall she can ring an alarm and somebody would be there for her. I’m trying to live at home to make sure that she’s safe.
"I’ve never known anything like this before. She’s a vulnerable 76-year-old lady with severe Parkinson’s, which she’s had for over 12 years."
When contacted by the ECHO, a Riverside spokesperson said: “We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to Ms Ramsden and the delay to update her on the situation. The safety and wellbeing of our customers is our number one priority and we are looking to resolve this issue as a matter of urgency.
"Our external contractor originally visited the flat at the end of November, but unfortunately the fault could not be fixed immediately and as an interim solution portable electric heaters were provided. We have been assured by our external contractor that they will be attending Ms Ramsden’s flat today to fix the radiator issue.
"We have also contacted the customer’s niece to confirm this and will follow up to confirm the job has been done.”
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