SHEFFIELD MPs are calling for an urgent review into how a Sheffield woman was allowed to spend the last three years of her life in a wheelchair.
The call came after The Star revealed that 45-year-old Angela Wright was left without any professional care from 2005 despite being paralysed from the neck down.
When her death was discovered she was covered in faeces, drenched in urine and wearin
g the same clothes she had worn the day carers stopped calling at her home on Totley Brooke Road, Totley, three years earlier. Her family claim she was left to fend for herself when her care plan, overseen by Sheffield Council's social services, was cancelled.
Her sons Mark Wright, aged 20 and Stephen 18, gave her food, drink and medication daily in the last year of her life when they realised the full extent of her suffering, with her younger son moving in with her.
Ms Wright is believed to have died from blood poisoning but an inquest is to held into the circumstances surrounding the tragedy and a police probe is also underway.
Today Sheffield MP Richard Caborn said: "There needs to be a full inquiry into why these circumstances have been allowed to arise. There is no excuse for that to happen.
"Why has somebody - a human being - been allowed to suffer like this for three years?"
Heeley MP Meg Munn said: "This is something which is of great concern. Clearly there needs to be a proper review of what happened to understand whether everything which should have been done was done. I would expect there to be a full investigation of this."
Clive Betts, who represents Attercliffe, said: "I think it is very difficult without having all the facts to make a definitive judgement.
"But what I would say is there clearly has to be an investigation into this and it should be an independent investigation. I think the council would be advised to move on that quickly."
Sheffield Council said staff had tried to help Ms Wright over the years.
Cath Roff, acting executive director for Neighbourhoods and Community Care, said: "There has been a recent external independent review of the council's involvement in the case of Angela Wright and the provision of care to her.
"This concluded that the council had consistently offered to provide care although Ms Wright was not always willing to accept the help that the council were trying to provide."
But a spokesman for the Dystonia Society, which supports people with the neurological movement disorder, said stubbornness is common trait among sufferers.
He said: "We do hear many stories of people who experience long delays in getting a diagnosis and then treatment to manage this condition.
"We often get calls from health and social care professionals asking us for help, so we know that this is a real issue."
READ MOREMain news indexYour letters.
FeaturesCheck out the very latest on South Yorkshire's roads - including live traffic cameras on Sheffield's commuter routes - with our Traffic sectionLatest sport.
The full article contains 515 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.