MS sufferer forced to be in bed 15 Hrs a day

MS sufferer feels she is loosing battle to disease due to carers shifts!

A multiple sclerosis sufferer is forced to spend almost 15 hours in bed every night because of Aberdeen City Council’s carers’ working hours.

Fiona Blackwell says she feels she has lost control of her life because she is put to bed by two carers at 7.30pm every evening and left until two more carers come in to wake her after 9am. The 42-year-old, who has been in a wheelchair for four years, has had to endure the long nights in bed since Christmas.

It has left Miss Blackwell unable to have any social life in the evening.

Her body is breaking out in bed sores and other skin complaints because of the number of hours she has to spend lying down.

Aberdeen South MP Anne Begg, who described the situation as “horrifying”, has written to the head of Aberdeen City Council’s social work department.

Ms Begg said: “For someone who is such a young person, to have to go to bed at half past seven, it is awful.

“She can’t really have a social life and, to make it doubly worse, she is in bed so long it is causing her extra medical problems.

“I was quite horrified to think that someone who is 12 years younger than me is being put to bed like a baby.

“She has no choice in the matter.”

Ms Begg said that if Miss Blackwell wants to stay up later she has to apply for special permission.

The MP added: “It is awful she has to think in those terms. She is quite independent during the day.

“She does her own shopping but this makes it so much more difficult.

“I am watching her deteriorate. It just seems really cruel.

“There should be no reason why someone with MS should not be able to lead as full a life as possible.”

Miss Blackwell, of Dee Court, has had six care managers in four years.

She admitted to having had a tumultuous relationship with some carers and care managers, but insisted she could not give enough praise to those who helped her in the mornings.

Miss Blackwell, who used to work as a manager for Jobcentre Plus, said: “I am only 42. I have had MS since I was 20 but it never held me back. I was promoted again and again.

“How can somebody who is 42 be forced to go to their bed at 7.30pm every night? I didn’t ask for MS. I am so frustrated. I am at the end of my tether.”

Miss Blackwell said she had battled with care managers for a change in her care plan and had been told there were no carer slots available for her later in the evening.

Her sister, Lesley, used to look after her but has become ill herself and can no longer lift the MS sufferer from the wheelchair into bed. She said it was “heartbreaking” and she had never seen her sister so depressed. A council spokeswoman said they were aware of the situation and were trying to change it.