A 99-year-old great-grandmother has been told carers cannot help her climb the stairs - because she might fall and hurt them.

Frail Edna East, who is just 4ft 9ins tall, is deemed to be such a threat to carers' safety that they said she must instead spend hundreds of pounds on a stairlift.

The seven-stone widow's daughter, Suzanne Singer, who looks after the pensioner at her home, branded the policy as "absolutely barmy." The decision was made after the firm contracted by Oxfordshire County Council to provide care provision carried out a risk assessment.

Four weeks later Mrs Singer received a letter from Enara Community Care, who visit clients in the morning and again in the evening, dropping the bombshell.

Mrs Singer said: "How ludicrous can you get? My mother is still perfectly able to climb the stairs with just a little bit of supervision.

"Surely the main role of her carers was to ensure her safety. To say they can't help her because of a possible injury risk is barmy.

"How risky is it to help an elderly woman up the stairs? They said she could fall on a carer and injure them but she's never fallen before. You could understand it if she was clinically obese but she never goes beyond seven stone.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1770