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Apology over pensioner's six months of cold showers

LDRS Ruby Harrod, an 88-year-old woman with white hair and a fringe. She is wearing a red top and smiling.LDRS
Ruby Harrod from Bracknell has dementia and heart failure

An assisted living provider has apologised to an elderly dementia sufferer who endured six months of taking cold showers.

The family of 88-year-old Ruby Harrod said the situation at Clement House in Bracknell, Berkshire, meant she had "no quality of life".

Six people had been sent to help with the problem but failed to make any progress after all claiming they needed to buy extra parts.

Abri, which merged with Silva Homes last year, said the issue had now been resolved and it planned to replace all of the showers in the block.

Google Clement House, a four-storey block of flats on a new-build estate. There are cars parked outside. In the foreground are houses.Google
Clement House has 65 one and two-bedroom flats managed by Abri

Ms Harrod has lived in the one-bedroom flat for almost 10 years.

Her daughter Madeleine McClurg said: "[My mother] has dementia, heart failure… the only thing she looks forward to is a hot shower."

Mrs McClurg said the problem had meant she had "no quality of life".

She said she had heard "several" other residents raise similar issues, including one neighbour who complained of having no hot water in his shower for a year.

Days after Abri was approached about the claims last week, Mrs McClurg confirmed her mother’s shower had been fixed.

She said the neighbour – who did not want to be named – was also set to have his shower repaired.

LDRS A bathroom with a number of items on the floor, including blue roll, a dust sheet, a backpack and some tools.LDRS
Several people had attempted to fix the shower in Ms Harrod's bathroom

An Abri spokeswoman apologised for the "delays in resolving the hot water issues".

She said guest suite showers were made available whenever possible and that they took the health, safety and wellbeing of their customers seriously.

“We will monitor the performance of the newly installed showers and are progressing with plans to replace all showers in the block as part of our ongoing property investment programme,” she said.

Silva Homes has previously been criticised for similar maintenance problems.

In September 2023, Jonathan Godsell, who was a tenant at The Croft in Priestwood, said he had gone without a shower for three months after finding mould behind his bathroom walls.

The next month, cancer patient Jerry Brombley, who lived in Toll Gardens in Bracknell, said Silva Homes refused to rehome him despite his flat being mouldy "in every room".

At the time, the housing association said it was working to catch up on a backlog of repairs that built up over the pandemic.

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