I am depressed and frightened for my future, when I see that Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet will meet in November to make a decision to discontinue paying for the servicing, maintenance and repair contract for stairlifts installed in the homes of those too chronically sick to be able to cope with stairs.

This poses a serious health and safety issue, which the council must take on board for those like myself.

Without a bedroom on the ground floor, I can only have access to my bedroom upstairs via a stairlift, that must be safe to use, to prevent serious injury.

Like many seriously ill people, on a low income, I will face a struggle this winter to pay my fuel bills and higher food costs.

I will not be asking the council for home care help, because I cannot afford the charge of £35 for just two hours’ help a week they ask of me. I also do not have the funds for an expensive but extremely necessary stairlift service contract.

May I remind the Government and the county council that they have a duty of care toward the most vulnerable in our society, to those of us who are seriously ill.

Please preserve our dignity, do not make us beg for something that gives us some degree of quality of life, which helps us to remain in our own home for the short time we have left.

JENNY BULL (Mrs) Church Road Long Hanborough