Paula Ball is waiting for a wet room to be installed in her home
Paula Ball with her daughter Georgina at the hotel(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
A “desperate” mum said she had to book her disabled daughter into a hotel to shower for the first time in two weeks as a five-year wait for a wet-room to be installed in her home continues. Paula Ball’s daughter Georgina, 34, has aicardi syndrome – a rare brain abnormality which means she suffers from severe epileptic seizures and learning disabilities, and is unable to walk, talk, read or write.
Paula, 60, from Huyton, cares for Georgina but she was receiving respite care from a company called Calder Breaks in North Wales. Georgina requires a wet room in order to shower and her care with Calder Breaks, which saw her stay there from Fridays to Tuesdays, would allow for this.
In the days between, Paula would wash Georgina but she has no facility at home to give her a full shower. But Georgina’s care with Calder Breaks came to an end in December, as Paula had a disagreement with the company.
Paula said she informed Knowsley Council of this, asking for its social services to support her in finding new respite care for her daughter and a place for her to shower in the meantime. Knowsley Council told the ECHO that Paula can use her financial support from the council to pay for the hotel services and that she is on a wafting list for a wet room to be installed in her Huyton home. The council said it anticipates work to be completed on this in 2025.
Paula, who herself was diagnosed with small cell cancer in 2022 but is now stable, told the ECHO: “I got in touch with social services in December, said the service (with Calder Breaks) had been suspended, I need somewhere else to get Georgina showered.
“I asked if they could provide where I could go for some other respite that I could take my daughter to, because she needed a shower. She’s double incontinent – she needs a shower. I can wash her down, but when she went to respite, she used to get full showers every day, but she hadn’t had a shower since December 8.
“I’ve waited five years for a wet room in my own home and I still haven’t got one. As I said to a social worker, if they would have got the wet room done, this wouldn’t be a problem – it would have been just another respite service. But it is a problem now because I don’t have the facilities to wash her.
“I’ve let things go for a while now because I’ve had treatment for cancer. I let things slide but now I’m not having this.”
As Georgina had not had a full shower for two weeks, Paula booked a night at the Village Hotel in Whiston on December 22, to make use of their accessible wet room. A Knowsley Council spokesperson told the ECHO Paula had been offered to use in-house showering facilities but this offer was denied.
Paula and Georgina Ball at the Village Hotel(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
Paula explained: “We’ve gone back to the Village Hotel a number of times. We went to Atkinson House to use their showers last Monday (December 30) – they said we could come again this Monday (January 6) but the weather was atrocious. We only had a time slot before their clients came again.”
Paula added: “Georgina has the mental age of three. She’s physically and mentally disabled, she’s in a wheelchair. There are only certain things she likes and her routine now has just gone out of the window.
“I thought social services would have helped me out on the personal care side for Georgina while we were waiting for another respite. I have to go to a hotel to lie her down, put her nappy on, it’s got to be somewhere which is comfortable for her because she can’t hold herself up while you’re dressing her.
“She’s got to be somewhere comfortable but I’m just left in limbo. I thought they were starting to work on my wet room. It’s just one thing after another – the problem is here now and it’s not going away.
“I’ve been so annoyed that they’ve left me and Georgina wondering how she’s going to have a shower – a lot of hotels don’t have wet rooms.
Paula said she is currently waiting for a referral to a respite centre in West Derby but she remains unhappy with the service she has received over the past month. She added: “We all need the respite but it’s lip service. It’s still going on – I’m stressed out, desperately trying to fix it. It’s appalling.”
A Knowsley Council spokesperson told the ECHO: “Miss Ball is in receipt of a Direct Payment to meet her care and support needs, and her mother, Paula Ball, manages this Direct Payment on her behalf. This means that her mother is fully responsible for commissioning her daughter’s care.
“Using this Direct Payment, Paula Ball purchased care for her daughter from Calder Breaks independently of Knowsley Council. She later complained directly to Calder Breaks about the service her daughter was receiving and Calder Breaks took the decision to suspend the service they were providing. The Council was not involved in this decision.
“Paula Ball contacted Knowsley Council on 10 December 2024 to advise that her daughter was no longer able to access respite services at Calder Breaks and requested support to help identify an alternative respite provider and showering facilities in the interim.
“Since being advised on 10 December 2024 of the breakdown of the arrangement with Calder Breaks, the Council’s Adult Social Care Service have been actively supporting Miss Ball and her mother and have arranged access to showering facilities at the Council’s own in-house respite service. Miss Ball’s mother declined to access this offer, and we understand that Georgina has instead been accessing the Village Hotel to meet these needs in the interim, and she can use her Direct Payment to fund this.
“Miss Ball is currently on the waiting list for work to be carried out (to) adapt her property to better meet her personal needs. Unfortunately, the demand for this type of work far outstrips the funding that is available from the Government through the Disabled Facilities Grant. Miss Ball is currently placed seventh on the waiting list and it is anticipated that the work will be completed in 2025. The Council will continue to support Miss Ball and her mother in the intervening period.”
The ECHO has made several attempts to contact Calder Breaks for comment.