MY wife has been diagnosed with a debilitating condition called fibromyalgia and also has arthritis in her hip and back.

She has severe difficulty walking any distance and cannot navigate steps or slopes with any ease.

As a result of this she finds herself housebound because we have three large steps from the front door out to the gate, and living in Parkstone everywhere you go is uphill.

I am the sole earner in the household though my wife receives disabled living allowance at the lowest rate and mobility allowance. I work in the building trade and I am lucky enough to still have a job but my wages have dropped considerably from last year.

We thought if we got a ramp put in we could get a mobility and my wife could have some independence.

Someone suggested getting in touch with Poole Social Services, so I called and someone came around to discuss the ramp and other useful things for my wife.

A few months passed and I rang social services to see how things were going.

It turned out that the social worker who met with was not qualified to discuss the ramp and nothing had happened about it.

Eventually they apologised for the situation and got the ball rolling.

They sent around a surveyor to measure up. In the meanwhile we failed the means test for the grant and when I asked how, they said that all they considered was how much we earn and not any thing else such as debts.

I must admit I do feel cheesed off with social services as we have lived in Poole all our married lives and have paid a lot of money in rates etc, and when we need a bit of help there is none for the likes of hard working people like us.

J J WOODFORD, Alcester Road, Poole