A MOTHER with a broken leg has spoken of her anguish at being told social services could not help her look after her disabled daughter.

Sylvia Roberts, 58, broke her ankle on Saturday, June 25 but said Wrexham Council’s social services department failed do anything to help her care for her daughter, Donna, 33, for over a week.

“They keep saying to leave it with them, they’ll get back to us, but they never do,” she said.

Sylvia, who lives on Heol Glyndwr, Coedpoeth is the full-time carer for Donna who has cerebral palsy.

She fell and broke her ankle when out walking her dog, and had to have a full cast which she is supposed to keep elevated for four weeks.

The situation, she says, has left her in despair.

Her other daughter, Marie Cooper, 36, helps out three days a week, but has a family of her own to support. She called social services the following Monday.

“We told them the days and times we needed help to put Donna to bed and so on, but we never heard back.

“Then we were told her social worker was actually another woman who we’d never heard of before.

“She came on Thursday and said to leave things with her. Then I called again they said they would try their best to get someone in but they’d got no cover.”

Marie called Cllr Mark Pritchard, who arranged for emergency nursing cover.
Cllr Pritchard said: “The cover hadn’t turned up on the Sunday, so I called social services out of hours and in fairness they got back within 15 minutes.

“I’ve had some contacts for third party agencies, so I’d say to anyone out there who has such a situation, let me know – but she really shouldn’t have had to contact me.”

Sylvia, who lives with Donna in her own house, said it was the last straw after years of poor support while struggling to make ends meet. For the last year she has had no working central heating and has a shower which backs up with brown water ever since an extension was built four years ago.

She said she cannot afford to sort these problems out, but has not been able to get any help with them.

“I’ll go without a shower, I don’t mind about myself, but it’s not right for Donna,” said Sylvia.

Phil Gilroy, head of adult social care services, said: “We received a call from Mrs Roberts and visited her.

“We worked with Mrs Roberts to re-arrange the support she already receives for her daughter to manage the next few days while other arrangements were put in place.

“Mrs Roberts agreed to make alternative arrangements for the first Sunday as the agency could not start until the following week. We are working with her regarding other matters but these are long standing issues and not within our powers to fix.”