A PENSIONER says he is having to dress and wash his disabled daughter because the council has withdrawn her carer.

But Durham County Council's social services departments says it will provide a carer if he accepts a bed adapted for use with a hoist.

Walter Ord, 76, of Alnwick Close, Ferryhill, says his daughter, Barbara, tried a bed which he described as "like something out of Beamish museum".

Barbara, who has multiple sclerosis and is paralysed from the knees down, could not sleep in it and went back to her old bed. She was offered another bed which can be raised, but Mr Ord said that would not be suitable for Barbara's condition

Mr Ord said: "They said that Barbara had to have a bed and that's it.

"The nurses say if we don't have the bed we can't have the hoist and went on about girls getting bad backs when they lift her."

Because he refused the bed, the carers, who used to come twice a day, stopped visiting.

Mr Ord said: "I can't understand them - all I want them to do is wash and dress Barbara on a morning. Now I've got to do the lot."

A social services spokesman said new regulations on lifting adults meant Mr Ord must have a bed with a hoist to avoid staff putting themselves at risk of injury.

He said: "The bottom line is Mr Ord has refused any sort of assistance in terms of a bed or a hoist. They won't let us help them to help themselves.

"He was warned that unless he accepted a bed with a hoist we would remove our staff. The health service has already removed his staff for exactly the same reason."