A disabled gran is having to use a neighbour’s downstairs loo because she’s still waiting for a stairlift two years after it was promised.

If Heather Hughes can’t get a reply from next door, she is using a bucket to relieve herself at her Chatham home.

And there have been occasions she’s been driven to a nearby Tesco to use the loo there “because it’s quicker than getting up the stairs”.

On the days she has the strength, the 66-year-old does manage to clamber upstairs on all fours to go to bed.

But when she doesn’t, Heather - who suffers from osteoarthritis, diabetes, and rheumatism - sleeps on the living room sofa.

Back in 2023, Medway Council’s occupational therapy team agreed she needed the stairlift after visiting the property she shares with husband Bob in Star Mill Lane.

Since then, her health has deteriorated, and her mobility has been significantly reduced.

Last month she lost her balance and took a tumble.

Heather, who also has breathing problems and a pacemaker, said: “They got quotes and took measurements, and I was told it had been handed over to the disabled adaptations service to get it installed.

“Some days I have to ask my neighbour if I can use her bathroom as she has a downstairs one.

“I’m finding it humiliating and embarrassing. I get out of breath, and I can’t face going up on all fours. I have to stop.”

She says she has lost count of how many times she has called the council and left messages, to no avail.

She added: “I’m really struggling now. I’m getting frustrated and depressed.”

After KentOnline contacted the council last week, a representative visited Heather, apologising for the delay, saying she had been trying to contact the couple’s landlord before installing the lift.

A spokesman for the local authority said: “We are aware of the situation and we are working to complete the installation. We would not comment further individual cases.”

Heather said: “I gave them the contact details years ago, including an email address. I contacted them and was told there was no problem. It just seems it’s excuse after excuse.”

It’s not the first time the council has been partly blamed for dragging its heels in getting things done for some of its more vulnerable residents.

Last month, KentOnline reported how a pensioner who suffers from emphysema and relies on a portable oxygen tank, waited four years to get a dropped kerb outside his Strood home.

Michael Partridge, 74, who struggles to walk, was forced to break the law by driving up and down the pavement every time he left and returned to his property.

Over the years, he made countless calls to the local authority and his landlord, mhs homes, without success.

At one point, he was visited by eight workers at the same time, who acknowledged he was entitled to the dropped kerb.

Less than a week after our story was published, contractors arrived on his Penguin Close doorstep and the work - promised to him by mhs in August 2021 - was carried out.