A WOMAN with serious health problems claims she has been left without a vital home help this week after she criticised the City of York Council-arranged service in the Evening Press.

Karima Hallett, of Church Close, Askham Bryan, called on the paper to highlight her dissatisfaction with the service after she claimed to have been repeatedly let down.

Ms Hallett, 61, suffers severe asthma, emphysema and heart disease and is on constant chemotherapy for bone marrow disease. She relies on the home help service to change her bedding and help with cleaning because dust can aggravate her condition and make her seriously ill. The service is organised by the council and provided by accredited private agencies.

In an article we published on Friday, Ms Hallett claimed that one home help had repeatedly failed to turn up and another had not done the cleaning properly.

These complaints did not refer to the home help who visited her on Friday last week.

Despite this, Ms Hallett was telephoned yesterday by the council "broker" who organises the service and was told that that the home help would not be coming again as she felt the article referred to her.

"She said it was directly because of the newspaper article," said Ms Hallett.

"She said that because it is Christmas week, they very much doubt they will be able to get someone else to do it. I can't physically do it myself."

Joanne Purdie, of City of York Council's community services, said: "I have no doubt that the brokering team will do their best to make sure the appropriate care is made available to Ms Hallett."

Updated: 11:01 Tuesday, December 24, 2002