A Bexley grandmother has said she feels her brother with learning difficulties has been ‘neglected’ by the council, claiming he has not been able to have a shower in his home for ‘months’. Beverley McDermott, 70, has lived in Bexley borough her whole life, having grown up as the younger sister to her brother Fred Longhurst, 71.
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Ms McDermott said her brother was born with learning disabilities which have severely affected his ability to communicate verbally. Mr Longhurst has stayed in an assisted living home in Barnehurst since October 2017 with two other individuals and full-time carers.
The grandmother said she visits her brother once a month and that earlier in the year, she noticed the water pressure of the taps in the property was particularly low. Ms McDermott asked carers in the home about the issue and was told that the water pressure was so weak that her brother and other clients at the property were being strip-washed instead of receiving showers.
Ms McDermott told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “They told me about the water pressure and that they are not having showers. For us to go without a shower for a day or two, we just don’t like it. For them to be left for months just having strip-washes – we’re going back to the 1950s.”
She added: “They are filling a bowl of water, but doing it in small bowls and transferring it from the tap… They said to me that they have not had a shower for months.”
The sister said she suspects the issue may be due to a leak in the front driveway of the property which she first noticed in April this year. Two reports on the leak were added to FixMyStreet in August for Bexley Council to investigate. However, the authority closed both reports last week, claiming the land was not maintained by the council and the matter had been referred to Thames Water for resolution.
A Thames Water spokesperson told the LDRS that the company first attended the property in June following reports of low water pressure. They confirmed that the cause of the issue was the leak outside the front of the home, but claimed the defect was on the property’s private pipework and was the responsibility of the owner, Bexley Council, to resolve.
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The spokesperson said that the authority was offered support to fix the repair in June but no response was received. They added that a repair would be carried out on September 26, with the council being charged for the works costs unless the authority made alternative arrangements before then. Ms McDermott said that aside from the issues regarding water pressure, the front and back gardens of the property have also become wildly overgrown in the past year with tall grass, weeds and stinging nettles.
The sister said: “They couldn’t come out here, and Fred used to love being in the garden. He is a fresh air person, he really is.”
Ms McDermott said her brother and the other clients at the home used to equally pay for a gardener to trim the greenery on the property. Copies of financial records from last year seen by the LDRS appeared to show gardening fees of between £66 and £84 being paid on behalf of Mr Longhurst every three to four months, with Ms McDermott claiming no payments or further works have been carried out this year to tackle the overgrown gardens.
She said: “They used to have a gardener and he would cut the grass and that. It wasn’t brilliant, but it was maintained.”
The sister added that several of the amenities in Mr Longhurst’s home are ‘falling to pieces’. She said staff at the property have not maintained furniture she bought for her brother on his behalf, including dining chairs and a garden swing chair.
She said: “They have just left it to go to rack and ruin. That [garden swing chair] was over £500.”
Ms McDermott sent a letter to several members of Bexley Council’s cabinet on August 18, highlighting the issues in her brother’s property. The letter, seen by the LDRS, said she was worried the ‘atrocities’ in the home would affect her sibling’s personal hygiene and asked for a response within five working days, but she said she is yet to receive any update.
She said: “It’s an absolute disgrace as far as I’m concerned. It’s neglect for these vulnerable people. I just don’t know what to say.”
Bexley Council was approached for comment, but had not responded at the time of publication.
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