A South London council has been told to pay £11,000 to a terminally ill resident after she was left “trapped” in an unsuitable flat for over a year and a half.

Bromley Council left the woman bedbound in a flat because it delayed finding her a suitable property at a time when she was counting down her remaining days after being given the heartbreaking diagnosis.

The woman, who uses a wheelchair and is called Miss X in the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman report, lived in an upstairs flat before being diagnosed with two terminal medical conditions in April 2021.

She said that her life expectancy at the time was four months, and she needed chemotherapy and dialysis to prolong her life which they have subsequently done.

Bromley Council was reportedly told this by the hospital in July 2021.

The report said Miss X’s conditions required her to always be lying down or seated in a tilted back position.

The resident’s partner reportedly helped her with walking after she left hospital in August 2021, with a care worker visiting once a day to help make her lunch.

Bromley Council was told Miss X needed help with day to day activities.

It was also told she needed an accessible ground floor property or one with a lift, as her current home was too narrow for a wheelchair and had left her bed bound.

The council said it was aware Miss X had a high housing need, but did not carry out an occupational therapy assessment as it was “unlikely to change her banding”.

The resident reportedly told the council in August 2021 that she had to be carried up and down the stairs in her current flat on a stretcher twice a week for dialysis.

Miss X was offered a property in September 2021, but was later told this letter was sent in error, so she did not respond.

The council reportedly said the resident declined the property as it did not meet her needs, but did not update its records until March 2022.

This led to Miss X’s bids on several other properties being discounted in the following months, as the authority believed she still had an active offer with the first property sent in error.

Miss X’s MP then asked the council in October and November to give the resident an overview of her housing options.

The council then placed Miss X’s application in the emergency band.

The resident’s doctor wrote to the council in March 2022 and said her current property was “significantly impacting” her mental health and dialysis treatment, while the resident herself felt “trapped”.

In response, the council said “it would appear that [Miss X] was bypassed for properties that she should have been considered for”.

Miss X complained to the council in April 2022, saying she should have been treated outside of the bidding process and the authority’s mistake had left her not being offered a suitable property.

The council apologised for its “human error” and made a direct offer to build a new wheelchair adapted unit for the resident within a week.

The resident told the council the property was too far from her family, who provided her with daily care. She said it was too small for her medical equipment, which was confirmed by the hospital.

Miss X said the property also did not have a bath, which was needed as a line in her chest could not get wet due to the risk of sepsis.

She then contacted the council three times in May and June that year to escalate her complaint, but was not given a response.

The report said: “A homeless charity made several attempts to contact the council on Miss X’s behalf.

"They said ‘[the] main concern is that [Miss X] is currently living in accommodation that is not only completely unsuitable for her health needs but poses a risk to her life and risk of injury to the ambulance service every time she needs help out of/into the property for medical treatment, which can be several times a week given her condition.

"The council has been aware of this for some time now, yet consistently delays the transfer of a terminally ill woman with inappropriate offers.”

The council’s care assessment at this time confirmed Miss X needed a wheelchair accessible property and two to three care calls a day.

Miss X made a further complaint in November 2022, saying the council had failed to respond to her or carry out any of the action needed.

She said she wanted to live independently for the little time she had left after being stuck in one room of her current flat since March 2021.

The council offered another property in December 2022, which was withdrawn as Miss X would have to travel to the hospital for two hours a day, three times a week on a stretcher.

The authority also responded to Miss X’s complaint in December 2022, saying it saw no fault in its actions as it dealt with her needs correctly but didn’t have a suitable property.

It also said it was having discussions with two other councils about whether they had any suitable properties closer to the hospital, but the ombudsman found no evidence of this.

Miss X bid on another property in February 2023, but was told it wasn’t suitable by the council.

The authority told the ombudsman that Miss X had declined two properties it offered her as they did not have a bath, and claimed there was no evidence a bath was a “medical necessity”.

The occupational therapist report in August 2022 said she needed a bath, with records showing Miss X declined the properties for other reasons such as insufficient space for her medical equipment.

The ombudsman criticised the authority for not considering Miss X’s medical needs until she and her MP complained about it. They said this led to the resident missing out on suitable properties and called it an “injustice”.

Bromley Council was instructed to apologise to Miss X and offer her £11,000 in recognition of the distress and harm caused, as well as for the 20 months she remained in an unsuitable property.

The authority was told to pay an extra £500 a month until she was rehoused. The report said Miss X was to be offered the next suitable available property, with adaptations being made if necessary.

A Bromley Council spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “The council acknowledges the difficult circumstances in this case and is sympathetic towards them.

"Unfortunately, it took a long time to find the complainant a suitable property due to an overwhelming lack of available accommodation that is either already suitable for applicants with physical health needs or could be made suitable.

"Thankfully, a suitable property has now been identified and accepted by the complainant. The council has cooperated with the Ombudsman’s investigation throughout, agreed with the final decision and has already apologised and made the requisite payment to the resident.”