Disabled patient angered by lack of access to dental surgery
A disabled patient from Corsham, Wiltshire, has spoken out after he was unable to get into the dental surgery he has used for the past thirty years.
Richard Everett, now 82, was left reeling after he was unable to use the ramp at the back of the Power and Stafford-Wood dental practice. Mr Everett was unable to access the back entrance of the surgery because the residents of a gated community known as Porters Mead refused to let him pass through the gates leading to the rear entrance of the surgery.
The dental practice cannot build a ramp at the front entrance because the steps are too steep. Mr Everett, who lost a leg last year and has been using a wheelchair since, said he refused to change dentists; he has been going to the same dentist for over thirty years and he will not let this defeat him. Last time he visited the dental surgery, it took three people to lift him up the steps at the front of the building.
Access to the surgery was never an issue before, as the land was used for garages and the dentists had an agreement with the owner; now the land has been developed and is owned by a different organisation. Dentists at the practice say they have no rights to the land and the residents and owners of the land have no desire to negotiate; the practice currently has four patients in wheelchairs and dentists say that they will try to organise alternative arrangements for those patients.
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Having read the comments on various websites remarking upon the behaviour of Porters Mead residents, I feel compelled to reply as one of the residents. I am appalled that fellow inhabitants of Corsham regard this article as the unequivocal truth, especially when it has been posted by a BNP Councillor for his own political gain, who incidentally has not posted my reply on his blog.
The following is an extract of a letter I have sent to the Editor of the Wiltshire Gazette and Herald:
“I am furious that you have painted myself and my fellow residents as wheel chair hating bigots. My son was profoundly disabled prior to his death and I find the article that you have published both offensive and disgusting.
What has been said is simply untrue. We have had numerous conversations with the dentist and raised our concerns over access by their clients via the rear of their premises. The access they enjoyed previously was an informal one with our consent. Our main concerns centre around the problems which have arisen from this access being abused.
Porters Mead is a private driveway which we are responsible for maintaining. We also have to pay for the electricity and upkeep of the gates via our management company. We chose to live here as we had a disabled son and two small daughters who we wanted to live in a safe protected environment away from the road.
Unfortunately some of the patients visiting the dentist have rammed into the gates and have become stuck causing a great deal of damage. This is damage that we have had to pay hundreds of pounds for. On five very recent occasions, residents have been unable to get into their own parking spaces and on two occasions they haven’t even been able to get through the gates due to obstructions caused by the dental patients. On four further occasions, taxi drivers when asked politely to move to let residents and bonafide visitors pass have given them a torrent of abuse and foul language. I myself have had one of the patients swear at me in front of my small daughters, and it is not acceptable. Only two weeks ago one of the residents young sons was physically threatened by a taxi driver when he politely asked him to move, which is what finally led to the consent being withdrawn as it was the last straw.
I challenge any one of the people reading your paper to say that they would act any differently faced with what has been happening here including Mr Everett the retired police officer who will be aware of the many offences involved.
Whilst I obviously have every sympathy with the disabled users I find it amazing that the true issue here is being ignored. The dental surgery has a responsibility under disability law to provide disabled access to their premises and they know this. We have discussed this with them at length as they had offered to pay us a small some of money in lieu of the damage caused by their clients to our property. We said that we would be happy for them to put that money towards a ramp, and we went away from the meeting believing that this is what would happen. Clearly it hasn’t, and I see no reason why a temporary ramp cannot be used on the very few occasions it is needed within a year.
So, you article has caused us a great deal of concern as they have now conveniently forgotten this conversation when talking to your reporter. If Mr Everett would like to come and discuss this issue with us we would be more than happy to do so. I realise this is a difficult situation but we have to consider the safety of the residents and particularly their children, and the only people that can sort this out are the dental practice themselves. We have to live here; these are our homes.”