Elderly residents of flats offering extra care were left without hot water for nearly a week.

Fernleigh is a development of 80 apartments at Leys Park, close to Witney town centre, offering help with getting dressed and bathed or household tasks, such as laundry and shopping, to companionship and conversation.

Samantha Garrett's parents moved in five years ago.

She said: "The hot water has been off at least twice before. My parents have had no hot water for six days.

"I just get fobbed off the whole time. The lift was out for six months, it’s just ongoing. When you flush the toilet in my parents’ flat it sounds like the QE2 going out – and that happens in the middle of the night.

"Something happened with Sky TV and it took them days to get someone in to fix it then there was no one to let the engineer in.

"The flats are full of really vulnerable people. My dad has Parkinson’s and you need to keep yourself clean and healthy. I have been told so many different stories – there’s always a reason, always an excuse."

Mrs Garrett’s mother Doreen Horne, 80, said: “They’ve told us they’re bringing in a temporary boiler today so that we can have hot water and they will get a new boiler in July. It will be seven days tomorrow since we’ve had hot water but this has been going on since last December.

"I’ve spoken to a number of residents and they are not very happy at all. Some are infirm and don’t get out. My husband has Parkinson’s.

"We’ve had no showers or baths, we’ve been using warm water and a flannel. They have apologized but they apologized before in December. There’s been a number of problems, leaks that sort of thing.

"The lift is intermittently not working, they say they’re always waiting for parts.

"You get frustrated, you’re given one story then another story and you don’t know who to believe. Because you’re old they don’t think you’re compos mentis but I know exactly what’s going on around me."

Trevor Graham, executive director of assets at owner and manager Green SquareAccord, said: "We have had a series of problems with the boiler responsible for the supply of heating and hot water at Fernleigh. I understand how frustrating and inconvenient this has been for residents and offer my sincere apologies.

"Restoring the hot water and heating has been our priority with our teams working hard to find out what was wrong and put it right. Unfortunately, a number of separate components have failed and we have now concluded that the best course of action is to replace the boilers. We are currently working to identify the most appropriate long-term solution and we have installed an external temporary gas boiler to ensure the supply of hot water and heating in the meantime.

"Any problems with lifts at the scheme have been resolved as quickly as possible by our specialist service provider, although sourcing replacement parts has taken longer than we would like.

"Our extra care housing team and other senior staff have liaised with residents at Fernleigh to understand whether there are any other issues that need addressing. Our absolute focus is on providing a great service to all customers and we continue to make every effort to do just that."

Mrs Garrett reported this week that a temporary boiler has now been installed in the car park and the hot water is back on. Her parents have been offered compensation of £63 per person for the week’s inconvenience.