River Clyde Homes asked to find new flat for 'trapped' Greenock gran

Grandmother Elizabeth Salom, 69, who suffers from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), told how she has struggled with the flight of 50 stairs at her River Clyde Homes tenancy for years.

But she has been unable to climb any of them since she was hospitalised with a near-fatal bout of sepsis last year.

Ms Salom is terrified that she could be left stuck in her home in the event of an emergency and die as a result.

She and her family say they have been pleading with RCH bosses to arrange a move for more than a year.

But they claim that Inverclyde's largest housing provider - responsible for more than 6,000 properties, has limited her choice of homes to only those which have no stairs at all.

Ms Salom, who also has tuberculosis, told the Telegraph she was shocked at the way she had been treated by the housing provider.

She said: “This was a good place to live until I took ill, but it’s horrendous now.

“I can’t get out, I can’t get down the stairs.

“I feel terrible, I’m depressed about it all.

“It’s contributed to my health problems I’d say, knowing I can’t get out with all those stairs.

“I just start to panic thinking about it all. The last time I went to hospital I got blue lighted down.

“I think their attitude is terrible, for being a housing provider it’s shocking.”

Ms Salom has suffered from COPD for more than a decade, but her condition worsened dramatically last year while on holiday with her family. 

Upon arriving home, she continued to grow worse and was eventually hospitalised for four weeks last September.

While in hospital, the pensioner was placed in high dependency and diagnosed with TB and sepsis. 

Since the incident, Ms Salom says she has struggled with basic tasks such as making a cup of tea and having a shower, and now has to take oxygen from a tank 15 hours a day. 

Due to her inability to climb the stairs at her property, her family now have to carry her down the narrow passageways of the close in her wheelchair whenever she needs out for medical appointments.

She added: “I was always there for my grandchildren because my daughter was doing university, so I took care of them.

“To not see them having special moments in life is hard, it breaks your heart.

“I’m trapped up here.”

Mrs Salom's family have expressed their frustration at her predicament and are urging RCH to move her urgently.

Granddaughter, Samantha Brown, said that she couldn’t understand why RCH aren't able to move her grandmother to a house with fewer stairs.

She said: “If none of us are here to help she can’t get out.

“It’s a health risk for us too, imagine me having to phone in my work telling them I couldn’t come in because I’ve pulled my back carrying my gran up and down the stairs.

“If one of us fall anything could happen.”

Miss Brown believes that moving her grandmother to a house with significantly fewer stairs would be better than waiting for one with no stairs to become available.

She added: “Our argument is that she’s currently being left in a property with 50 stairs.

“She must be a priority to get out of this building because she’s not in the category that they say she must be in.

“With less stairs it would just be a matter of taking her arm and helping her down to the car.

“She’s been a tenant for almost 50 years. This is no way to treat her.

“We could end up in a situation where we can’t get her to hospital, and she dies in her living room.

“What happens if there’s a fire? How are we getting her out?

“There’s no way we’re getting her out without a fireman. Her living here is a danger to her life.

“We’d be willing to even pay for a stairlift for her at another property or for a shower to be put in, we’re not asking them to give us the world.”

The Telegraph contacted River Clyde Homes for comment but had not received a response at time of going to press.