A pensioner who spent Christmas shivering in her cold home died after being found with hypothermia - because the council failed to fix her central heating.
Susan Baines had been living in her council house in Kent for 25 years but did not have any working radiators after the local authority ordered the electric heaters turned off.
Authorities did not realise that there was no gas supply to the 70-year-old's house, and scheduled an installation last July, when housing inspectors found she was heating the house with electric storage heaters that needed replacing.
Susan Baines had been living in her council house in Kent for 25 years but did not have any working radiators. She is pictured at Kent and Canterbury Hospital in 2015 after being admitted with hypothermia on a previous occasion
But delays, including hooking up a gas supply and carrying out an asbestos survey meant the 70-year-old had to live without heating during the coldest period of the year until the work by East Kent Housing could be done.
Hospital notes show Mrs Baines had a core temperature of 29.5C when she was found by paramedics - more than five degrees colder than 35C benchmark at which the NHS say people are at risk of hypothermia.
Mrs Baines' son Mark said his mother struggled to climb the stairs at her Whitstable home and she had been sleeping and bathing on the property's ground floor.
Preparatory work to introduce central heating began in September, but the installation was postponed until after Christmas.
Mr Baines said: 'In about October when it started getting cold, housing officers gave her two little fan heaters.
'We're talking about the little cheap, tenner ones - they weren't enough to make the house properly warm.
'She didn't use them, because they weren't allowed to be unsupervised and she was too disabled to get to them quickly if they set fire to something.
'It's the night time when it got really cold, and leaving them on while she slept would have been a fire hazard.'
Mrs Baines was found hypothermic in the cold house by ambulance crews on January 8.
The pensioner, who had a number of other health issues including vascular disease and kidney problems, died of multiple organ failure in hospital the next morning.
Hypothermia was not recorded on her death certificate, but her son believes it played a contributory part in her death.
He said: 'My mother had severely damaged organs. She died due to heart failure, but the lack of heating was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Mrs Baines was found hypothermic in the cold house by ambulance crews on January 8. It is pictured in an undated photo
'It's very hard to prove, as her death is consistent with her illness. But the bottom line is a severely ill 70-year-old woman shouldn't have been allowed to be in that condition.
'She was found with a low body temperature, close to death. She was frozen, and had no heating - at that time of the year.'
An inquest into Mrs Baines's death was not held, but EKH has since carried out an investigation into her property's heating. She had been admitted to hospital with hypothermia before in 2015.
A spokesman said: 'We were saddened to learn of the passing of Mrs Baines and appreciate that this was, and continues to be, very distressing to her family.
'The electric storage heaters in Mrs Baines's home were reaching the end of their life and were identified for replacement following a series of repairs which were carried out to them.
'When faults were reported, they were repaired as quickly as possible ensuring that heating facilities were available to Mrs Baines and we also provided her with temporary heaters to use if a fault occurred or when additional heating was required.'
EKH said it had recommended Mrs Baines install a gas-fired central heating and hot water system and carried out survey work in July last year.
'Preparatory work started in September and during the course of this it was established that a gas supply was not available to the property,' the spokesman continued.
'This was initially left with Mrs Baines' family to progress, and was then subsequently supported by EKH.
'A gas supply was made available by November last year and this resulted in the preparatory work being recommenced. This identified the need for an asbestos survey which was carried out in December.
The spokesman said a decision was taken with Mrs Baines not to start until after Christmas because the work would be 'disruptive'.
'We were notified by Mrs Baines' family of her passing and took the decision to place all work on hold allowing the family time to address their affairs and resolve their housing needs.
'We have made changes to our procedures to ensure that our contractors ask whether a gas supply is available and undertake an asbestos survey at an earlier stage, so that future installations will be quicker.'
In a letter to Mr Baines, EKH's director of property services, Mark Anderson, said: 'My review has concluded that there are lessons to be learned, particularly in relation to agreed points of contact, the checks that need to be carried out when a home is initially surveyed, the regularity of communication and what is communicated, and ensuring that where we are working with vulnerable residents that we engage with authorised family members and advocates in the process.'
Mr Baines hopes the investigation findings will prevent similar events in future.
He added: 'At the end of the day, there's nothing I can do to bring my poor mum back.
'But there are other people out there suffering, and by discussing this it could stop what happened to my mum happening to somebody else.'
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News Pictures Susan Baines died after being found with hypothermia in council home
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