A DISABLED woman "left to rot" in the Royal Surrey County Hospital now faces an uncertain future as funding for her residential care has been dramatically cut. Heather Williams, 59, has been a resident of Holy Cross Hospital in Haslemere for seven years. However when she experienced problems with her ongoing battle with angina she was sent to the Royal Surrey County Hospital for treatment. During her stay at the hospital in Guildford she was informed that she could not return to Holy Cross because her medical needs had increased and funding from social services had been reduced, her son Simon Williams told The Herald. "The doctors told her in a very underhand manner that she would not be able to return to Holy Cross," he said. Mrs Williams then remained in the Royal Surrey for six days because she had nowhere else to go where she could receive adequate care provisions for her requirements. However after being discharged from hospital on Monday, her family made the decision that Mrs Williams should go back to Holy Cross. Staff at Holy Cross are currently allowing Mrs Williams to stay but it is uncertain for how long. Hospital staff reluctantly let Mrs Williams stay after she turned up on the doorstep in a private ambulance Mr Williams explained. "But she will still probably end up somewhere else," he said. "I am pretty disgusted that someone disabled and vulnerable could be treated more like a commodity than a person. "If she didn't have family and people around to advise her she would have been basically left to rot." Advocate and representative for Mrs Williams from Disabled Citizen's Advice and Support Services (DisCASS) Peter Heather has also been fighting her case. "There has been no written indication about her place at (Holy Cross). It has all happened in telephone discussions which places doubt on the accuracy of information we have been given," Mr Heather said. He also claimed that with no firm answers from social services it was unclear that Mrs Williams would not be able to return to Holy Cross until she was informed doctors at the Guildford hospital. Conservative parliamentary candidate Jeremy Hunt is helping to fight the cause of behalf of Mrs Williams after being contacted by her family. "This is a terrible example of a lack of joined up thinking between government agencies," Mr Hunt said. "Not only has a very frail person been deprived of the first class care she had been receiving for many years at Holy Cross, but she (was) also taking up an acute bed at Royal Surrey which will lengthen waiting lists for other people." Mr Hunt also wrote to the Guildford and Waverley Primary Care Trust (PCT) which is responsible for providing health services in Haslemere. He pointed out how she was "stuck in an acute bed there because NHS Continuing Care has so far refused to fund her ongoing care at Holy Cross". However it has emerged this week that as Mrs Williams is originally from Woking she is in fact the responsibility of the East Surrey Heath and Woking PCT. "In cases such as these concerning an individual we work closely with Social Services to find a solution as soon as possible and take as much action as we can," spokeswoman for East Surrey Heath and Woking PCT Wendy Lockwood told The Herald. A Surrey County Council spokeswoman said: "We have been working with our colleagues at East Surrey Heath and Woking PCT to assess Mrs Williams needs and provide for them accordingly." Discussions continue and social services are currently looking into providing temporary funding for Mrs Williams for the next five weeks Mr Heather said. The Herald spoke to the chief executive of Holy Cross Hospital, Christopher Hinton ,but he was unable to comment due to strict patient confidentiality.
