Helen talks about 92-year-old woman in a bed 'sodden in urine’

Helen Morgan MP has spoken up about the human impact of cuts to social care on many of Shropshire’s most vulnerable residents.

This comes amidst Shropshire Council’s latest round of budget cuts and the possibility of the local authority going bankrupt in the near future – which would mean Government commissioners come in and make even deeper cuts to services.

Over 80% of the council’s budget is now spent on providing social care, for both the county’s ageing population and adults with disabilities. This means that the latest round of savings is hitting many of the county’s most vulnerable residents the hardest.

The MP says that she has received more and more casework regarding a lack of care ‘almost month-on-month’ since her election, and has gone on to describe some of the most upsetting cases that her team has dealt with.

Helen Morgan, MP for North Shropshire, said, “The most upsetting casework I deal with is from families struggling with awful situations due to the strain on our care system.

“One family had to battle Shropshire Council after a care home attempted to move their nearly 80-year-old mother, suffering with dementia and struggling with mobility, to a different home where the only available room was up ten flights of stairs.

“In another case, a 92-year-old woman suffering with dementia was left sitting in a chair and sleeping in a bed, both ‘sodden with urine’, all whilst wearing the same clothes for weeks at a time. It is heart-breaking.

“Both of these cases were under the watch of social services, and I have been receiving more and more requests for help every month since I was elected.

“The scale is too high, and that's before we consider the people who don’t contact my team for help.

“It is not the fault of the hard-working care staff, who do their best under immense pressure – but we just can’t go on like this.”