A DROITWICH woman who has made a life for herself in the town, has urged people not to become complacent about Government cuts, which could see her put back in a nursing home.

36-year-old Claire Hurstbourne suffers from a whole range of chronic conditions including psoriatic arthritis, osteoporosis, Von Willebrand Disease, autoimmune hepatitis, chronic pancreatitis, kidney stones, Raynaud’s phenomenon, Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, and reoccurring pericarditis, which mean she requires 24-hour care.

Originally from Alvechurch, Claire was placed in a number of care homes and nursing homes from the age of 23, moving around from Birmingham to Nottingham, and finally to Worcester. She hated the experience, which she says finally triggered depression.

She said: “Nursing homes just weren’t good at all. I didn’t fit in, everyone was elderly, the few young people that were there in a few of the homes were much more disabled than myself and couldn’t communicate, so there was no company really. You never got to go out places, you don’t get any choice in food, it was horrible.

“I never got to explore myself because I never went anywhere or did anything. I never had the choice to use make up, or experiment, or find out the type of clothing I wanted to wear. They only gave you the basics of what you needed. As long as you were clean and clothed and fed, that’s all they cared about. Not about your emotional well being. I had no-one to talk to. I didn’t have friends, because I never got out to meet people.”

Claire’s life changed when she was assigned a new social worker who questioned why she was still wearing her pyjamas in the middle of the day. She confessed to them that she was extremely depressed and seeing a psychiatrist, and that more than anything she wanted to be in the community with other people.

Claire was eventually given a two bedded bungalow with one room for a live in carer from Care4Me in Malvern.

She said: “If I hadn’t had that social worker and the determination of everyone who worked as a team to get me there that wouldn’t have happened, and I always live in fear now of losing it because I know how awful it is to live in a home, and how wonderful it is to be in your own place. I just can’t express how important it is.”

However with the Independent Living Fund recently closing, Claire is concerned about the way the benefits system is changing, and she’s very aware of how precarious her new life is.

She said: “It worries me so much how everything’s changing in the care sector. It’s constantly being reassessed and every time it’s reassessed you worry ‘are they going to give me the money, or are they going to take it away?’ I have to contribute from my own money, and I’m at my limit right now. I couldn’t do more.

“My greatest fear is ending up in a home. Losing everything, losing my dog. I won’t have anyone to go out with me in a car. I'd lose everything, my life, and I’d lose all the emotional stuff I’ve built up. It will just go again.”

She stressed the importance of letting people live independently if they can, adding: “Give people a chance. Let them live a life instead of just existing in a home. In care homes, in nursing homes you just exist. It’s not a life, it’s just an existence, and surely people deserve the right to a life.”