Grandmother sleeps in chair after lift breaks at Ebbw Vale care home (From South Wales Argus)

Grandmother sleeps in chair after lift breaks at Ebbw Vale care home

2:50pm Friday 4th January 2013 in News By Ruth Mansfield

FAMILY’S ANGER: Care home resident Eileen Michael, pictured here with her great-grandson Keane Michael-Wood, has been sleeping in a wing chair for two weeks after a lift at the Ebbw Vale home broke

AN 88-YEAR-OLD woman has slept in a chair for two weeks at an Ebbw Vale care home after a lift broke, her family say.

Eileen Michael is one of four residents affected at the Bridge House residential home after a lift providing access to the second floor broke on December 20.

Since then, Mrs Michael, who has a bedroom on the second floor of the home, has been sleeping in a wing chair in the home’s ground floor day room, according to her granddaughter Alexandra Michael, 33, of Staffordshire.

Alexandra said this has caused her grandmother’s legs to “balloon” in size, meaning she requires extra medication.

Aspokeswoman for the care home confirmed there had been an issue with the lift, but said the part for the lift was arriving yesterday and would be installed as soon as possible after its delivery.

Miss Michael said: “This should not be happening in any care home.

“Something should have been done earlier.”

Mrs Michael, who suffers from slight dementia, moved into the home around a month ago following a four week stay in Ysbyty Aneurin Bevan Hospital, Ebbw Vale, after she suffered from bruising following two falls within 24 hours at her home in Beaufort.

Miss Michael said her parents, Lyndon and Catherine Michael, of Abertillery, visited Mrs Michael on December 22 and spotted pillows and blankets in the day room.

It was then they were told by Mrs Michael about the lift.

When they enquired at the care home, they said they were told nobody was available to fix the lift at the present time.

Miss Michael said there is another working lift in the home providing access to the first floor, meaning it is only patients with living facilities on the second floor who are affected.

The spokeswoman for the care home said: “There has been an issue with the lift, but we have been working with the contractors and social services, and have done all that we can to resolve the issue.

“Social services are happy with the measures we have put in place, and the care given in the interim.”