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20
Dec 2021
Disabled Harrogate woman threatened with Christmas eviction from care home
The mother of a disabled woman who faces eviction from her Harrogate care home and being moved into a Premier Inn has accused the local authority of treating her daughter like a "slab of meat".
Catherine Bradwell, 49, who was left partially paralysed and mildly brain damaged from a fall down stairs five years ago, has been staying at Southlands Care Home on Ripon Road since June last year.
North Yorkshire County Council, which provides social care, has been trying to find more suitable long-term accommodation and considered moving Catherine into a homeless unit in Starbeck before deciding she should go to a disabled access room at the Premier Inn hotel on Springfield Avenue in Harrogate.
Catherine's mother, Gaye Bradwell, 81, was told the move would take place over Christmas but since contacting the Stray Ferret has discovered it has been put back to an unconfirmed date.
Nevertheless, her daughter's long-term accommodation remains uncertain and Gaye believes the case highlights how "shoddily" disabled people with specialist housing needs are treated.
Gaye, whose late husband was an eminent surgeon at Harrogate District Hospital, wonders how many other families are in a similar situation. She said:
Catherine needs help showering, getting dressed and preparing food. She can walk unassisted indoors but due to balance problems and the risk of falling on uneven surfaces, uses a wheelchair outside. Gaye said:
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Southlands, which offers long-term residential and nursing care, was never considered to be a permanent option for Catherine, who is much younger than other residents and does not require round-the-clock care.
Gaye said Southlands staff had been wonderful but agreed a more suitable long-term option had to be found for her daughter, who wants to live as independently as possible.
She said social services had suggested three retirement homes, as well as Fern House, Harrogate Borough Council's 19-bed homeless unit on Spa Lane in Starbeck, and now the hotel.
No continuity of care
She said Catherine's age made retirement homes, which cater for over-55s, unsuitable and the other options highlighted how woeful provision was for disabled people who want to live independently.
When threatened with the move to the homeless unit, Gaye paid for an independent occupational therapy assessment, which concluded "that retirement housing or a hostel for homelessness people would be suitable for her vulnerable physical, cognitive and psychological difficulties".
The assessment added:
The council assessor eventually agreed the homeless unit would be unsuitable but then said Catherine would be moved to the Premier Inn, where she would be supported by a care package, on December 27.
Gaye said five different social workers had been allocated to help her daughter over the last one, which made continuity of care difficult.
Richard Webb, director of health and adult social services at the county council, said:
Jackie Snape, chief executive of Disability Action Yorkshire, which runs a residential care home for adults with physical disabilities on Claro Road, Harrogate, declined to comment.
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