A STRESSED mum of a severely disabled son and a daughter who needs round-the-clock care has slammed local health bosses over a lack of respite care which she says has made her a 'prisoner' in her own home.
Ann Ward has hit out at the level of support provided by Inverclyde Health and Social Partnership since she suffered a serious ankle injury and contracted a bout of dangerous MRSA - declaring that she has been 'pushed to breaking point'.
Ms Ward, 45, is pleading for HSCP chiefs to allocate more respite days for her two children so she can fully recover from the serious injury she suffered in April, which left her on the verge of contracting life-threatening sepsis.
She says she has been asking for more help from social services for the better part of three years, but says her situation has taken a turn for the worse since she broke her leg and dislocated her ankle in a bad fall on April 27.
(Image: George Munro)
Ann told the Telegraph the accident has piled even more pressure on her as her children's sole carer and has made caring for her daughter, who requires help with some of the most basic day-to-day tasks, even more difficult.
Ann said: “This has all come to a head because I’ve injured my leg, but I’ve been telling them for three years something like this was going to happen. My injury happened through exhaustion.
“My recovery is absolutely being affected by this, I still have MRSA which I got after I fell and in four to six weeks, I have to go back in to get metalwork removed from my leg.
“They [social work] gave me emergency care for them both but as soon as I got out of hospital they gave me my son back.
“I’d booked respite in June, but I was in hospital at the time, and they didn’t give me that back. I didn’t get the benefit of it at all, and I’ve been left with three days to do me the rest of the year.
“My pleas have just been ignored, I feel as if they’ve abandoned me to deal with this myself.
“My life is still like it was during the pandemic, I can’t get out, with how extreme my daughter’s condition is I can’t take her out to places like supermarkets or go into loud public places.
“They talk about community support, but my kids are severe, they need specialised care.
“I’m looking for respite and I’m looking to find out what else the council can do to help me, surely it can’t just be a case of telling me I can just go to the art club up the street.
“In term time I get the respite when the kids go to school, but there’s none right now.
“I’m isolated in the house, the dangers to us are really bad and we need more help.”
Ann says multiple professionals who work with her children have been in touch with the HSCP to suggest she gets more respite, but she is still yet to see her allocation upped.
She now faces leaving her role as a civil servant, which she has held for over two decades, to care for her children and believes that her situation will only continue to deteriorate unless she receives more help.
She added: “I’m basically a prisoner in my own house.
“My children are suffering because we’re not getting enough support.
“This has been going on for a while and the main issues are not getting fixed.
“I was given 12 nights respite at first, but that’s not been increased in three years and things have got worse because my daughter is older now.
“My son, who is 13, needs everything done for him but he’s getting left behind because his sister’s condition is so extreme.
“I should be able to take my son out to the cinema or a wee trip on the boat, but I can’t because my girl can’t cope with that environment. He misses out because I’m not getting the support.
“They told me there were befrienders during the pandemic but I’ve not seen anything like that. If that was possible they could come and take my daughter out and then when my leg gets better I could take my son out, that would help.
“Whenever I talk to them there’s never a solution, they always say they’ll look at it, but they never come back to me.”
A spokesperson for Inverclyde HSCP said: “We are currently reviewing the support which is in place for the children.
“We have a statutory duty to ensure that the children’s welfare is paramount in our decision-making concerning the support required.
“We are investigating Ms Ward’s complaint and will feedback the outcome of this in due course.”
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