A BLIND disabled woman has spoken about her three-year battle for proper care - after she suffered 75 accidents in a year.

Kim Jaye, 55, who is legally registered as blind, has a variety of conditions and disabilities which affect her general health and mobility, making it difficult for her to move around her house in Bromley Cross.

Following a major bowel operation in May 2017, Ms Jaye struggled to look after herself and required care staff to visit her home.

But failings by Bolton Council - highlighted in a report published last week - led to Ms Jaye struggling to get the help she needed. At one point, her care was cut from 67 hours a week to 25 hours a week.

Bolton Council say they have now "amended processes to reflect the findings of the report".

Ms Jaye said: “When I came out of hospital I was in a wheelchair and it took me months to start walking and to be able to do little things for myself.

“I was struggling to pick the jug up when making cups of tea of coffee so I had lots of burns, I was falling down, passing out, all sorts of accidents. It was really difficult."

Ms Jaye was sent 12 CVs for carers by the council’s contracted agency, but none of them fit her needs, and the two most qualified candidates she invited for interview failed to turn up.

As Ms Jaye struggled to find someone to cover the much-needed shifts, her personal budget from the council began to accumulate in her account.

Bolton Council paid for 67 hours of supported care each week but in December 2017, her support hours were cut down to just 25 a week following an assessment.

Ms Jaye added: “At that point I was 100 times worse than before – these are people that are supposed to listen to you and are supposed to give you that support when you’re struggling and instead they cut that support.

“You stop being a person and you become a budget. That budget has destroyed my life."

Her struggles continued as she contacted the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman to launch a formal complaint into her care.

After delays in the council’s response to the Ombudsman’s investigation, the independent party ruled that Bolton Council were at fault and they were ordered to pay her £3,800 for the harm and distress, £500 for her assistant’s unpaid work, and reinstate her original allowance immediately.

Ms Jay said: “The ombudsman was absolutely fantastic. They made it so much easier for me, they worked around my disabilities and I could not fault them at all."

A spokesman for Bolton Council said: “The council takes all cases and complaints seriously and we are committed to improving our services.

“We apologised to Ms Jaye for our handling of this case and worked with her to ensure her needs were met.

“Her care package was reinstated at the earliest opportunity, and the case was assigned to an experienced social worker to reassess her needs and ensure an appropriate assessment and care package were in place.

“We read the findings of the report closely and took it as an opportunity to learn and improve our services. This was acknowledged by the Ombudsman in the report.

“We amended our processes to reflect the findings of the report and conducted a full review of 12 months of cases to confirm they have been handled appropriately.”