A double amputee says she’s been left a ‘prisoner in her own home’ after waiting FIVE MONTHS for her local council to build her a wheelchair ramp.
Barbara Samuels, 76, has been stranded inside since both her legs were amputated below the knee.
But since leaving hospital in February, the diabetes sufferer, of Littlehampton, West Sussex, has been marooned inside.
Barbara said she tried to fashion a makeshift ramp out of a door so she could at least sit in her garden.
But she hit her head on paving slabs when it flipped over three weeks ago, and she needed the help of paramedics.
But, after a hospital visit, the retired caterer was stuck outside her own home for two hours before the paramedics could manoeuvre her back inside.
Barbara said: “I feel disgusted.
“I have got myself better rather than laying in bed and doing nothing, because I would have died.
“I got myself motivated and did what I can, but I feel like I wasted my time.”
The council have said they will build Barbara a new ramp, but until then, she is stranded.
Having been diagnosed with diabetes 12 years ago, a toe amputation led to her right leg being removed last September and her left leg in December.
Her friend Louisa Light, 65, said: “I wouldn’t want to live here.
“You don’t expect people who have lost both their legs to be treated like this.”
A West Sussex County Council spokesperson said: “We have recommended a number of long term adaptions to the lady’s home.
“We are in contact with Arun District Council as that is the relevant authority to carry out the adaptions.
“We are providing support as we know there has been a change in the family’s living arrangements with the lady recently.
“A care package has been put in place and we continue to monitor how she is getting on.
“We are currently looking to see if there is a short term solution to the ramp until the longer term adaptions can be made.”
