A woman was discovered dead two weeks after she reported an issue with a boiler at her bungalow in Altrincham.

Sylvia Pollitt was discovered dead at her home on Seamons Walk, off Seamons Road, on December 1 of last year.

On November 18 of last year, Ms Pollitt reported an issue with a boiler at her bungalow to housing association L&Q, which took over Trafford Housing Trust (THT) around four years ago.

It sent the issue, which did not affect the heating or the hot water, onto its contractor Liberty.

But it went unresolved because, when Liberty was not able to contact Ms Pollitt, the case was closed and not escalated to L&Q.

On June 16 of this year, at an inquest, coroner Alison Mutch ruled the cause of death was complications related to hypothermia.

Then last month Ms Mutch wrote to the housing association in an attempt to prevent a repeat of the tragic death.

Ms Mutch said: "The inquest heard if there is non-contact following a referral this should be escalated to the Housing Association so they can carry out checks. Carrying out checks for the vulnerable ensures they are safe and well. 

"That did not happen in Mrs Pollitt's case."

L&Q referred itself to the Regulator of Social Housing in relation to Mrs Pollitt's case.

Its executive director David Lewis said "important changes" have been made this year.

Mr Lewis said: "We were extremely saddened by the death of Sylvia Pollitt, and our thoughts remain with her family, friends and neighbours.

"A tragic death like this must never happen again, and important changes have been made to ensure this is the case.

"Prior to the inquest, L&Q undertook a review of all call-outs put through to Liberty and did not find previous incidents where a similar incident had occurred. We did, however, immediately implement a stringent new process where we track the progress of each job every step of the way. 

"We are able to audit every open, completed and aborted job, with reports produced on a weekly basis and reviewed between L&Q and Liberty managers. Any concerns are immediately escalated to our neighbourhood teams to undertake welfare checks. 

"This is consistent with the recommendations made by the coroner in this case, which we are committed to learn from."

A spokesperson for Liberty said: "Everybody at Liberty is deeply saddened by the death of Sylvia Pollitt. 

"We are committed to working with L&Q to learn important lessons and implement changes to how services are delivered. Our thoughts and deepest sympathies remain with Mrs Pollitt’s family and friends." 

This article was written by Jack Tooth. To contact him, email jack.tooth@newsquest.co.uk or follow @JTRTooth on Twitter.