A SEVERELY disabled man is celebrating finally getting a permanent home a year after his family were forced to abandon him due to social services budget cuts.

Matthew Brook, formerly of Roding Lane North in Woodford Green, is deaf and almost totally blind with deformed feet and a life-threatening skin condition, but Redbridge Council and Redbridge Primary Care Trust still decided to cut his care package in half.

And as his 72-year-old mother was unable to care for him his heartbroken sister, Helen Coughlan, had no choice but to leave him at Ilford's King George Hospital.

But after a Guardian-backed campaign, Mrs Coughlan has finally managed to get Matthew settled in specialist disability clinic The Chase, in Forest Gate, which meets all his complex needs and social services as finally been able to close the case.

She said: “He goes bowling twice a week which he loves and also on boat trips and so it's just perfect for him.

“They expected my elderly mother to look after him but when she got ill there was just no other choice but take him to hospital.

“It was such a battle to get him somewhere that can take care of all his needs.”

Matthew is currently the oldest living person in the UK with kerattis ichthyosis (kid syndrome) and also has a serious form of autistic spectrum Aspergers syndrome leaving him with the mental age of eight or nine.

And Mrs Coughlan explained why it was so important for him to get the care he so desperately needed.

"Matthew shuffles around lightly on his knees which are heavily padded and bandaged because of continuous pressure sores.

"He can only sit for two hours at a time in a wheelchair as his spine gives way on him.

"He has to be checked daily for skin cancers and bathed only in oils not soaps but Redbridge Council cut his care package from 11 hours to six-and-a-half hours claiming he does not need any medical care.

“I'm just so happy it's all over as it was such a battle to get him here.”