A REDDITCH carer has hit out at the borough council after she claimed it failed to help a disabled resident find housing following her discharge from hospital.
Vicky Hawthorne is a family friend of Gemma Tombs and is a registered carer helping with Gemma’s welfare.
Vicky said since Gemma was discharged from the Alexandra Hospital last Friday, she had been placed in a Premier Inn in the town with no care plan in place.
She added Gemma had been paying for her own care and accommodation prior to her three month hospitalisation and had now ‘run out of cash’.
Vicky visited Gemma at the Premier Inn this week and said she was disgusted with the state she had been left in.
“The council put Gemma into a hotel with no care.
“She is physically unable to care for herself, she’s in a wheelchair and her mobility isn’t good.
“It was by chance that I popped in to visit her, and it was lucky that I did.
“She had been left there all day, the room was dark with the curtains still closed, she hadn’t eaten or been to the toilet.
“You cannot let someone back out of hospital with no care package, she shouldn’t been in this situation.”
Vicky then appealed to Redditch Borough Council’s housing team, to help them find Gemma somewhere appropriate to live.
She claimed the council said it could not help her, and that she had to sort her living situation out herself.
Vicky said: “No one will help us, we’ve written to the MP, gone to the council and there doesn’t seem to be a solution to the problem.
“I’m a carer as my day job, and I’ve decided to be Gemma’s full time carer just so she is looked after properly.
“All we want is somewhere for Gemma to call home.”
A spokesperson for Redditch Borough Council said: “We have worked extensively with Ms Tombs and unfortunately she is not owed any duty from the council to find alternative settled accommodation. This is because she was found to have made herself intentionally homeless under the law.
“Ms Tombs declined our offer of temporary accommodation to allow her time to find her own accommodation once we came to this decision and we are not currently handling any homeless application from Ms Tombs.
“We are unable to comment on care provision as that is not a borough council service.”
