Disabled people stuck for days in British care home when elevator breaks

From Wetherby News in the UK:

Wheelchair users were left stranded in their rooms at a Wetherby care home this week after the building's only lift broke down last weekend.

Workmen discovered they were unable to fix the main service lift at Leonard Cheshire Disability's Wharfedale House (pictured) on Westgate after a specialist part was needed to repair it which was only available in Finland.

A Leonard Cheshire Disability Homes spokesman said on April 29 the lift company had assured it the lift would be fixed by close of play April 30.

But the situation has still left seven of the home's 18 residents, who wish to remain independant, stranded on the first floor for nearly a week and resident Doug Paulley said it has created complete chaos.

Mr Paulley said on Wednesday: "There are residents, who live upstairs, stuck living in other people's rooms downstairs because they happened to be downstairs when the lift broke last Saturday.

"And there are seven or so people trapped upstairs who can't get downstairs because they are reliant on the lift to get out.

"I use a wheelchair and I had to crawl downstairs today because I had a GP appointment which was exhausting and it took me half an hour to get back upstairs.

"The lift has been breaking down regularly for years and it previously broke down for four days so the residents have been pushing for alternative means of access to the first floor for a long time."

Mr Paulley claims that when the home was first built there were plans for an alternative ramp to be installed up to the first floor but he said these plans were scrapped.

"The whole thing has been farcical and I know the home has been doing all it can to get the lift fixed as quickly as possible but we should have a platform lift up the stairs in case this happens again,"he said.

Wharfedale House service manager Pat Macey, who has been working all week to get the lift fixed, declined to comment on the situation.

But a Leonard Cheshire Disability spokesman issued a statement on the home's behalf and said the comfort and wellbeing of its service users was always its top priority.

"We understand that this is inconvenient for the people who live on the first floor and we therefore offered them alternative temporary accommodation either on the ground floor or at a nearby service north of York.

"All rooms on the first floor have en-suite bathrooms, there is also a kitchen and lounge on the first floor.

"We are doing everything we can to ensure that this causes minimum disruption to the residents at Wharfedale House, who are being updated on a daily basis about the lift."

The spokesman added how the broken lift had posed no evacuation risk in the case of an emergency or fire at the home.