A COUNCIL leader has apologised after a disabled woman was forced to ‘live downstairs’ due to waiting almost a year over her stairlift application.

Cllr James Swindlehurst (Lab: Cippenham Green) said Slough Borough Council will make changes to its “gatekeeping” policies to ensure a situation like this does not happen again.

Slough Observer:

An unnamed woman, who relies on care workers and was unable to access her upstairs bedroom and bathroom, was forced to sleep, eat, and wash in her downstairs living room while she waited for the council to decide on her stairlift application – submitted in May 2021.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found the council was operating a points-based waiting list for adaptations, which is against statutory guidance, in a bid to manage the backlog.

READ MORE: Slough disabled woman forced to sleep & wash in living room

The watchdog ordered the local authority to pay the woman £3,550 and scrap its disabled facilities grant minor works waiting list process.

Cllr Swindlehurst said the council was running a “backdoor waiting list” for minor adaptations as they were “rationing resources” and “struggling” to meet the demand.

He said at Monday’s cabinet meeting: “I am genuinely very sorry that we ended up with such long waits, and hopefully the new policy regime and using the social care ombudsman toolkit will help us get there as quickly as possible with a better regime and better outcomes for residents to get maximum use of those pieces of equipment to improve their day-to-day lives.”

Members agreed to update the council’s housing assistance policy 2022 – 2027, which will implement the latest national guidance including the definition of urgent and non-urgent cases to fairly manageable waiting lists.

READ MORE: Slough Council agrees to pay 'distressed' disabled woman £3,550

Urgent cases will be prioritised, such as people being discharged from hospital or end-of-life cases.

The council will also speed up applications for minor works, such as stairlifts, by raising the major equipment grant from £5,000 to £10,000 to reduce the waiting list.

The renewed policy will also give the council’s most senior legal advisor, also known as the monitoring officer, a more active role in ombudsman complaints.

Other actions include greater scrutiny of the council’s complaints procedure, reviewing performance data, and enhancing the local authority’s partnerships with private landlords and housing associations.