87 year old Stairlift turned down by Council, need help in appeal

Cheeky_Monkey

peterbaker wrote: »

That sums up typical council thinking quite nicely this time Cheeky.

They can't be a$$ed to "care".

Just so you know Peter, my post was in no way critical of the Council. I think they are 100% right to refuse the request.

In terms of whether they care or not. I imagine that they are more concerned about the fact that they may have families living in a B&B or hostel that desperately need the house so pandering to an obstinate old person would not be best use of their limited funds.

Robin9

I go back to my post #9 - is moving downstairs a possibility ?


My MIL had to do the alternative - although she had a stairlift she was too unwell to use it and spent her last months upstairs where the only bathroom was.

Money_maker

peterbaker wrote: »

Most people? Oh right. And they do that aged 87 when they are already vulnerable and reluctant to move away from familiar surroundings, do they? Sorry, I had no idea that was what most people did.

Yes, that is what most owner occupiers do because they reach a certain age where they get tired of struggling all the time and just want things to be a little easier. That is of course if their children let them sell the property - it's not unknown for children to stop their parents selling the family home as they feel it is their inheritance. Familiar surroundings are all well and good but decades of struggling means some welcome an easier life.

Robin9

Money_maker wrote: »

Y.............................. Familiar surroundings are all well and good but decades of struggling means some welcome an easier life.

Try as we would we could not persuade my MIL to leave her house. She was adamant that she was staying.

And stay she did - she died alone.

Silvertabby

I tried a stair lift .. self funded, refurbished and found it really quite painful, a good make but they do shake and rattle if sensitive, you need a steady grip it would cut out as i moved my hand and dexterity for seat belt etc. It wasn't for me. Posted by Cyclamen

Good point. The only stair lift I've seen in action was in the house of a 40 year old friend who lost a leg in an accident. She was otherwise fit and healthy with good upper body strength - but she still had to haul herself in and out of the chair. Doubtful a frail 87 year old would manage this safely.

Cyclamen

The other thing to think about with stair lifts is just what you mention silver tabby.. yes the chairs often turn to get in but you are still tryiing to sit down into the chair at the top of a fight of steps and organise seatbelt etc... i get dizzy and this scared me silly.

you can solve walking aid problem by having sticks/walker on every floor an dleaving as you 'get on'.

i wouldn't use one again.... and really wish i'd tried before buying

peterbaker

Cheeky_Monkey wrote: »

Just so you know Peter, my post was in no way critical of the Council. I think they are 100% right to refuse the request.

In terms of whether they care or not. I imagine that they are more concerned about the fact that they may have families living in a B&B or hostel that desperately need the house so pandering to an obstinate old person would not be best use of their limited funds.

I don't care about families living in B&B or hostels because it is not my job to care about a completely different example of local authority and central government failure. You are doing the council's bidding by conflating the two ideas just as they wish and suggesting that getting families out of B&B and hostels is the greater good and that housing stock is necessarily limited and somehow has to be rationed out like there was a war on or something. It isn't necessarily limited. It is very easy and inexpensive to put up a hundred houses in a few weeks. What isn't easy is the politics and your politics is dubious in my book. Leave the elderly where they are if they want to stay and their loved ones have decided that's the best idea for now. Don't question their decision. You have no place questioning it as an ordinary taxpayer that knows nothing about the family and the case beyond the fact that the council on this one are playing silly bvggers.

As a tenant this 87 year old has clear rights of continuing tenure if they pay rent properly. Leave those rights alone. And as a completely separate matter, the council adult social car department should facilitate the rapid installation of a stairlift in this case. No question. Stop using 87 year olds as political footballs.

mac.d

peterbaker wrote: »

the council adult social car department should facilitate the rapid installation of a stairlift in this case. No question. Stop using 87 year olds as political footballs.

The council have a budget for social care, one that is continually being squeezed, so they definitely do have to question installing a stairlift and considering if it is the best use of their budget.

In an ideal world of course she should get the stairlift installed and be able to stay in the house she has had as her home for so many years, but the reality is that she may end up having to move and that is just the sad fact of having to rely on social care.

peterbaker

mac.d wrote: »

The council have a budget for social care, one that is continually being squeezed, so they definitely do have to question installing a stairlift and considering if it is the best use of their budget.

In an ideal world of course she should get the stairlift installed and be able to stay in the house she has had as her home for so many years, but the reality is that she may end up having to move and that is just the sad fact of having to rely on social care.

It's a sad fact of living in a broken once proud and innovative country which now has suffered now for some decades with ever decreasing stupid low wages for the majority, whilst being plundered by spivs and hangers-on and not enough tax being collected (to pander to spivs, hangers-on and wannabes).

GwylimT

If people care about family members they personally make sure their relatives are living somewhere safe, sadly some people think their relatives safety is down to the state.

The shame of putting your parents welfare in the hands of the state.