"Attendance Allowance and Stroke services in Chelmsford "

Two years ago I had a stroke and was admitted. The care was not bad but at first I was admitted to a male general ward and not the special Stroke Unit because they had no beds. The first night after the stroke I woke up in this ward to find myself still in my day clothes – no one had undressed me or put me in night clothes.

After two days I was transferred to the Stroke Unit but although I had two short sessions of physio there I still spend an awful lot of time just sitting around. After a week I told the consultant that I wanted to go home as I thought I would be able to do more there and he agreed to let me go.

I still haven’t got the use of my arm back so my husband has to look after me. I applied for attendance allowance but was refused because I can feed and wash myself. My husband applied for the carer’s attendance allowance as he has to do all the housework and shopping. But because I don’t get the attendance allowance he was refused too. The lady from social services was quite rude when I asked what else we could do to get round this. I feel that after a life time paying taxes and my National Insurance it is not fair to be denied Attendance Allowance as it would really make an enormous difference to our lives.