Exclusive by Geoff Barnes

A 65-year-old mother who has spent 40 years looking after her severely disabled son is threatening legal action against Wirral Council for alleged negligence.

Howard Smith was born with two spines and operations to remove one left him paralysed from the waist down.

He suffers from spina bifida, water-on-the-brain and chronic kidney infection and spends up to 16 hours on the floor of his New Ferry home because his feet and legs swell.

A measure of comfort was provided by a special spa bath supplied by Wirral social services department.

But since the bath ceased working 16 months ago, Howard's mother Beryl Owens claimed that all requests to social services for repairs to be carried out, or for the bath to be replaced, have hit a wall of indifference.

Mrs Owens said: "Every time I need something from social services I have a battle.

"I have had nothing but arguing to get things for Howard. He doesn't want luxuries, he just wants the basics so he can be independent."

Mrs Owens said she phoned social services every day from July to December, 2004, after the bath had failed.

Someone had called at the house just to put a 'do not use' notice on it.

She said: "The stagnant water stinks and can cause diseases. Tiles have fallen off the bathroom wall because of dampness and the floor has started to lift, but no-one is doing anything about it."

Mrs Owens sobbed as she told of her frustration both with her domestic situation and her dealings with social services.

She said: "It has been an absolute nightmare. This has been a case of total negligence by social services.

"They are way out of order. No-one is prepared to listen.

"I am not 30 or 40 any more, and I have my own health problems.

"My life has been nursing Howard and taking him to and from hospital.

"He gets very frustrated and I am the one he takes it out on. I have grown old before my time. I don't have a life. I don't go anywhere or do anything and I am sick of it.

"I feel like packing a bag and just getting away from it all."

Mrs Owens recently dropped a chair on her foot and finished up with one foot in plaster and an Achilles heel problem on the other.

She saw a hospital consultant at Clatterbridge who, she said, was astonished to learn she had been solely responsible for Howard's care for 40 years.

She said: "He told me I must have saved social services thousands and thousands of pounds.

"When a social worker subsequently came round he said Howard must have 'slipped through the net.'

"But Howard spent 18 years in Alder Hey and was automatically registered as disabled."

Mrs Owens has contacted a solicitor with a view to taking legal action against the local authority.

She said: "If Howard died it would please them immensely because it would save them money."

A spokesman for Wirral Council said: "Staff at Wirral social services occupational therapy team have kept in regular contact with Mrs Owens to resolve the difficulties she is currently facing.

"However, because this case is subject to legal proceedings, the council is unable to respond to Mrs Owens' specific complaints directly. All correspondence regarding this matter will therefore be dealt with via Mrs Owens' solicitors."

q Budget crisis - see page 5