A PENSIONER who says he owes his life to a sheltered housing warden claims council staffing cuts could have serious consequences for residents.

Francis Smith has lived at Charles Macpherson Gardens – one of two schemes run by Swindon Borough Council in Eldene – for a decade.

The 68-year-old was horrified to receive a letter informing him about changes to staffing arrangements from February 15, which he says will leave the facility without a live-in warden.

The local authority insists its service will not be affected and that it is following a workforce model adopted up and down the country.

“They’re going ahead with getting rid of live-in wardens and never replacing full-time staff,” said Francis. “I believe there used to be one sheltered housing officer per site, I believe.”

Francis pointed to an incident two years ago as proof of the need to have an officer on site permanently.

He said: “They usually give me a call in the morning and on that particular day she came across because she didn’t believe me that I was okay.

“They got me to a hospital and it turned out I was so dehydrated I had been hallucinating. But I don’t know what I would have done if no one had been here. 

“I am only alive because we have a full-time sheltered housing officer. If it was someone from a call centre they may not have picked it up.”

Under the new plans, Francis says sheltered housing officers for the area will be covering three buildings during their shift – including Charles Macpherson, Bob May Court and George Hall Court. 

He added: “There is a lot of old people here and during Covid, this puts people at a very high risk. She needs to go in and see people to check on them, you can’t always do it on a phone call. We don’t always want a different officer coming in dealing with our personal things.”

Francis says he is trying to get hold of the risk assessment that has been completed by SBC to show staffing levels are unacceptable. 

He added: “The council have made this decision amid a pandemic.

“If someone was to say have a stroke here, they may not be able to get the help. Someone could be left on their own unnoticed for weeks.”

A Swindon Borough Council spokesman said: “We completely understand why some of our tenants may be apprehensive as any change to services can be unsettling at the best of times.

“However, we have looked very carefully at our model of live-in residential housing officers and we believe we can maintain a modern, caring and effective service by adopting this new approach which is used by the majority of social housing providers both locally and nationally. In fact, many residents will still see the same staff and benefit from the same services.

“The new model will be self-sufficient and paid through the service charge, ensuring it is not subsidised by other council tenants, which is the case now.

“We would like to assure our tenants that thorough risk assessments have been carried out ahead of this change and we also have strict Covid-19 procedures for all our staff whose duties take place on site.

“Our sheltered housing tenants will continue to receive a daily call if that is their preference. This cannot be face to face under the current Covid-19 restrictions, but we will resume in-person visits once it is safer to do so.”