Kidney patient has grim choice in gas supplies for home

[okarol]

Kidney patient has grim choice in gas supplies for home

Aug 1 2007

By Lynda Nicol

A KIDNEY dialysis patient has been given the grim choice of doing without heating, hot water or cooking facilities or living with a gas supply which does not meet safety standards.

Tommy Burgess, who like his wife Paula also suffers from diabetes, was shocked last week to be told the central heating system in his council house was unsafe.

The shock news was delivered by a gas engineer carrying out annual safety checks for South Lanarkshire Council tenants.

Paula and Tommy, who are both 57, have since learned many of their neighbours and hundreds of other council tenants could face the same stark choice in the near future.

In their case the pair chose to refuse to have their gas supply turned off and were made by the engineer to sign a disclaimer.

Paula, who gave up her job as a care worker to look after Tommy when his kidneys failed and he had to go on dialysis two-and-a-half years ago, said they simply could not live without gas.

Said Paula: “We need our gas supply for cooking, heating and hot water. I’m always cooking because, as diabetics we have to watch our blood sugar levels. Tommy needs the heating on most of the time as he really feels the cold, especially after returningfrom having kidney dialysis at Monklands Hospital three times a week. Nor could we do without hot water for showers.”

Paula said the pair had lived in their Lochaber Place home for almost 40 years.

Their current central heating system was fitted about 15 years ago. But since then they have had nothing else done.

They know many of their neighbours are in a similar situation.

Added Paula: “It is not a situation we should be put in.”

Another tenant from Lochaber Place has taken on the task of representing his neighbourhood.

When he learned about the problem he immediately went to the Q&A in East Kilbride Civic Centre to complain.

He told the News the council employee there knew nothing about the situation but promised to get someone who did to call that afternoon.

Six days later he is still waiting.

The tenant, who asked to remain anonymous, said hundreds of council tenants with gas central heating could expect over the coming weeks, to be put in a similar situation because of new gas safety regulations requiring better ventilation which came into force last year.

He added: “The council was in full knowledge of the regulations and we feel it has had more than enough time to rectify this situation. But the council has chosen to do nothing.

“This effectively means it is breaking the law by renting properties with unsafe gas appliances.

“Rectifying this situation would require the houses to be fitted with a vent or have combi-boilers installed to replace their old-fashioned resource inefficient back boilers. Currently the council has a two-year backlog in its rolling programme of upgrading boilers.

“In today’s environment, where natural resources and global warming are a priority, the council seems more concerned on concentrating on bathroom and kitchen upgrades through its HomeHappening programme than on other serious issues.

“This is ironic as new combi boilers will have to be fitted eventually and this will mean one of the cupboards installed under HomeHappening will have to be altered to take the new boiler.

“If the council takes immediate action and provides vents in houses affected, these vents will become redundant with the fitting of combi boilers.”

A spokeswoman for South Lanarkshire council said: “The council has a programme of gas safety checks and servicing that is carried out annually in line with gas safety legislation.

“All people directly employed or sub-contracted by the council are fully conversant with current legislation and will apply this as required through the course of their duties.

“Recent changes to legislation dictate that where a gas instalation is deemed not to be up to current standards due to ventilation, this must be upgraded or shut down.”
 
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