Copeland Council Leader, Elaine Woodburn, puts to use her own knowledge of suffering the amputation of a leg in helping her to understand the needs of other people she represents. She had to stay in hospital for seven days for no better reason than that Copeland Homes could not find the time or money to make the necessary adjustments to her home after the operation. This focuses her mind marvellously on interlocked medical, social and political problems.
The trouble is that health trusts, social services and registered social landlords have different budgets and this confuses their sense of priorities. If landlords had to pay health trusts for the cost of bed-blocking caused by their failure to take prompt action this might focus their minds, too. So might the risk of having to pay heavy damages if a disabled person were unable to escape from home in a fire because of the lack of basic adjustments like ramps or railings.
Her mind races with ideas. What we need is a culture change, enforcing better planning, she declares. Private developers should be compelled to build a due proportion of 'homes for life', easily adaptable to changing needs as their occupiers grew older or suffered illness. She is tough on councils, too. Local roads are in a disgraceful condition because of Cumbria County Council's attempt to reduce the costs of maintenance. The council might see things differently if they were deemed liable for the cost of repairs to vehicles, including wheelchairs.
There is no doubt that Elaine is raring to go as soon as the pain subsides enough to allow her to focus clearly for a sustained period. She put the views of Copeland Council about the Low Level Waste Community Fund on the Politics Show, and hopes to be standing by April and walking by May. Physiotherapy is strengthening her muscles day by day and in a few months she expects to be walking more easily than she could for many years before the operation. This will be a significant improvement in her quality of life. Those who fear Elaine have reason to worry. She is getting impatient.