DON’T MISS OUT…

A new report into disability(*) maintains that businesses could be missing out on a share of £420million in revenue a week, by failing to meet the demands of disabled people!

 

The same report also says a third of disabled people experience difficulties as a result of their impairment accessing public, commercial and leisure services; 17% of those say that inappropriate bathroom/toilet facilities are a barrier. That equates to at least 3/4million people being prevented from enjoying time out by lack of suitable toilets.

 

The report expands that location, layout and size are the biggest problems for disabled people and bathroom facilities. It’s why there is such a need for ‘bigger and better’ toilets- aka Changing Places. Under the new (2018) British Standard regarding inclusive buildings (BS8300:2018), a Changing Places should be at least 12m², include a ceiling track hoist, privacy screen, adult sized changing bench, and, ideally a wash & dry (shower) toilet in place of a conventional WC.

As I have said before, the Regulatory wheelchair-accessible toilet fails most disabled people. For a start, there are 13million people registered disabled in the UK, of whom “only’ 10% use a wheelchair. It is a Regulatory requirement to address their toilet needs, yet there is not a huge difference between them and the number of people who need the space and extra kit of a Changing Places.

 

We would maintain the figure is actually significantly higher than the report suggests. For example, 6.5million people have continence issues; 9million people suffer from arthritis; 0.5million people have acquired brain injuries; 0.25million people have a disease that affects their muscular control (MS, MD, MND); 1.5million people have a learning disability. All of these issues can impact on a person’s ability to go to the toilet on their own.

 

So why aren’t Changing Places a Regulatory requirement? Under current Regulations, and even under the new British Standard, the phraseology is only that such facilities ‘should be provided’. So if this lack of appropriate toilets has affected you, please ‘take five’ to do something about it: lobby your local MP to get the law changed.

 

Where a toilet is provided, it must address the needs of most, not the needs of the few, and be big enough, with the kit for as many people as possible to use it. That should be the minimum requirement.

ENDS

(*) Papworth Trust Disability in the UK

POSITIVE CARING CAN DELIVER POSITIVE RESULTS

 

The latest ‘buzz phrase’ in the health sector is ‘positive caring’- assessing people who need care and taking preventive measures to avoid their need escalating, even to the extent of admission to, and subsequent discharge from, hospital.

 

I am delighted to hear it; it’s a message we have been propounding for a while, whereby a wider range of health professions are involved, enabling steps to be taken before it becomes a critical need, to ensure a person’s wellbeing and independence, at the time of assessment, and to endeavour to predict future needs.

 

In one example(*), hospital admissions have reduced by 64%, largely by involving a wider team, including Occupational Therapists, and making adjustments such as, where appropriate, sorting aids and equipment at home to protect the person from deteriorating.

 

It’s about being proactive rather than reactive. Such an approach can not only reduce the likelihood of hospital admission, but can also reduce the social care need. Even something as simple as aids to help someone go to the loo on their own, and with optimum dignity and hygiene, can make a big impact on mobility and psychological wellbeing.

 

Some professionals are already forward-thinking enough take that approach (for example, http://www.clos-o-mat.com/index.php/products/case-studies/88-palma-vita-case-studies/domestic/742-helping-turn-disability-into-a-positive-2.html; http://www.clos-o-mat.com/index.php/products/case-studies/88-palma-vita-case-studies/domestic/516-toilet-helps-unblock-hospital-bed.html).

In both cases, there has been a proven reduction in the need for care.

 

Rarely a week passes now without there being some story in the media about NHS and social care budgets, the strain both services are under. Both the case studies above prove that the positive caring approach can reduce the need for care, and therefore strain on local care budgets.

 

For it to work, it needs to be adopted on a national scale.. It requires a change of mindset, but a change that could very quickly reap results.

 

They do say, after all, it only takes repeating an action for 21 days for it to become a habit!

ENDS

(*)http://thelincolnite.co.uk/2016/07/new-care-home-service-helps-to-keep-lincoln-residents-out-of-hospital

Adaptable Style & Function

A wetroom is a perfect way to make sure that, even if doing certain movements is starting to become a bit difficult, you can still be independent and stylish- at least with your intimate hygiene!

 

Closomat’s range of options enable you to still be in vogue whilst getting that extra bit of support….

Support arms and grab rails don’t have to have that typical institutional look, but can be sleek, aesthetic and discreet. So can shower seats. They can be fixed directly to the wall, or mounted on a slimline track to give the flexibility to move them to exactly where required.

 

And for the ultimate hygiene experience, replace the conventional WC with a Closomat wash & dry toilet, so you don’t have to contort, twist, reach, to wipe clean: integrated features shower your intimate parts clean, then warm air blow you dry. You can tailor it to your individual needs too- initially or as you change with time.

 

Floor- or wall-mounted versions suit individual design preferences, and, if knee flexing is becoming hard, then opt for the fully-automatic height adjustable Lima Lifter.

 

Find out more at http://www.clos-o-mat.com/index.php/products/accessible-

LIFTING SUPPORT

Daily life has been given a lift for the Lalor family, with kit that is “just the answer” for them all.

 

The equipment is a ceiling track hoist and Palma Vita wash & dry (bidet) toilet, supplied and installed by Britain’s leading helpful hygiene solutions provider Closomat. It is benefitting the whole family: father Michael can move his 49 years-old son Michael, who has Muscular Dystrophy, easily around the family home in Laois, Leinster, particularly into the bathroom, and son Michael can to go to the toilet without having his sister Mary or father deal with his intimate cleaning afterwards.

“It is just the answer, it was terribly badly needed,” commented father Michael. “We had an ordinary mobile hoist before. It was very hard work for us to manage him. All we have to do now is push a button!

 

“We had an older wash & dry toilet before too. It wasn’t a patch on this one! It cleans Michael thoroughly, without me, or his mother, having to wipe him. It’s much nicer for all of us.”

 

Michael was first diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy when he was 17 and an active member of the Gaelic Athletic Association. Initially the family thought he had just sustained an injury. His Occupational Therapist initially arranged for the mobile hoist and original toilet; as his condition has deteriorated, and time has impacted on his parents’ ability to help him, the family’s needs have been re-assessed, with the recommendation of the new Closomat Palma Vita and hoist.

 

Looking like, and capable of being used as, a conventional WC, the Palma Vita is the only wash & dry toilet designed specifically for people with impairments. It delivers the best douching and drying performance available. Uniquely, it can be fitted, initially or retrospectively, with a range of accessories to enable people to continue to use it with little or no support, even as their needs change.

 

Closomat’s ceiling track hoist can carry up to 200kg (31stone), and can, at the push of a button, be moved to wherever it is needed in the room, precisely positioning the person where the carer requires-be it over the toilet, shower seat, or changing bench. The hoist is designed to support the user as needed, and be simple for the carer to transfer.

 

“We go to the toilet on average eight times a day, so it has a huge impact on anyone who needs help to do so, and their carers,” observes Robin Tuffley, Closomat marketing manager. “Combinations of equipment such as we have provided at the Lalors makes a huge difference to the whole family’s daily life.”

 

Closomat is the only British manufacturer of wash & dry toilets, with the Palma Vita being the biggest-selling unit of its kind. It compliments its range of helpful solutions for intimate hygiene with country-wide sales and technical support and in-house, nationwide service & maintenance.

 

The company’s website- www.clos-o-mat.com- is one of the most comprehensive resources for accessible bathroom and toileting solutions. White papers, guides to specification, installation ‘top tips’, CAD blocks, video, and renders are all available for download free of charge, with the site even including a fully- searchable map for ‘try before you buy’ locations.

Prevention is Better than Cure

They say prevention is better than cure. They say the social care sector is in crisis, with not enough carers, not enough beds in care homes. So, taking the adage to an extreme, what about preventing the need, as far as possible, for care support, for care beds?

 

Of course I appreciate there are numerous circumstances where what I am about to propose isn’t practical. But, in many instances, it IS:

Where possible, expand our use of technology, living aids, in place of sending someone in to do that task, or putting someone in care.

Where relevant, it has numerous benefits. The pressured care resources are available for other cases where equipment isn’t a practical solution. It’s actually better use of funds to provide the technology- it’s a one-off cost, more often than not amortised within weeks or months against the cost of sending in daily care support.

 

And there has been research that shows people who were enabled to stay at home needed less residential care, had a better quality of life, and their physical and mental health improved- putting less strain on health budgets……

 

Would you want someone to wipe your bottom? To help you on and off the WC? If there was equipment to do that instead, what would you rather have?

 

And that’s the opinion of the Better Outcomes Lower Costs report, originally written a decade ago. Numerous, subsequent reports have delivered the same conclusion. When are we going to change our way of thinking, and take heed of the proof: where appropriate, enable people to be independent.

 

 

find out more: click the link!

http://www.clos-o-mat.com

CHANGE IN THINKING COULD OPTMISE BEST USE OF FUNDING

 

By Mark Sadler, Sales Director

 

A new report has suggested that spending £270m on Disabled Facilities grants saves more than double that amount from health & social care costs^(*)!

 

Surely it is time we stopped the wheel of convention, and took a fresh look at the way monies are spent? Just because we’ve always done it that way doesn’t mean it is still the right, or most appropriate way, to do things.

 

This latest report is just that- the latest. Over the years there have been numerous studies into the best value for money attained by spending a comparatively nominal amount on an adaptation, that reaps dividends in reduction of care and health costs. Yet still we carry on blithely taking months or even years to sort adaptations, inbetweentimes spending vast sums on providing a care worker.

 

I appreciate some adaptations do require building work. Many don’t. Many are comparatively simple to effect. A toilet lifter, for example, can be easily fitted over the WC, requiring only an electrical connection. A grab rail or support arm just needs bolting to a suitably strong surface, be it a wall or floor.

And so often adaptations are a reaction to an event- a fall prompting a costly stay in hospital, potentially a broken bone. Should we be looking more at preventative steps? Again, reports prove the point: the Building Research establishment has modelled the impact of preventative adaptations, and reckons our refusal to take this approach costs the NHS £414million a year!^(*)

With our ageing population, the situation is only going to get worse, unless we make a major change in our approach. Some local authorities are so doing, and realising the benefits in £. Perhaps there should be an incentive to encourage more to follow suit? Or, where a Council has achieved such success, it is suitably lauded.

 

Maybe what it actually required is a legislative change, with a % of budget withheld if money is being wasted in this way? Then Councils would HAVE to make best use of resources….

 

 

(*): Housing Learning & Improvement Network report Health & housing: building the evidence base April 2017

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN THE TOILET CAN IMPROVE THE BOTTOM LINE

The definition of corporate social responsibility is the idea that businesses should balance profit-making activities with activities that benefit society.

 

By heading to the toilet, an organisation can deliver something that benefits society, but which simultaneously opens its doors to potentially up to at least 20% more customers.

Being able to access suitable toilets is a basic human right. But for too many disabled people, it is a right that is denied them if they go beyond their front door. The current legal provision isn’t suitable. They need more space. They may need to be lifted. They may need changing. Or all three!

 

Currently 1 in 5 people in the UK is disabled. Many of those people need a carer to help them. So if the disabled person can’t access your business, you are not only excluding them, but their carer too. They may be part of a family. So you are excluding the whole family.

And what about the carer? If they can’t access your premises with the person they care for, they are also lost customers. That extends again to toilet provision: if they need the loo, what are they supposed to do? Abandon their vulnerable charge alone, outside the facility?

 

Make your operation accessible and you open your doors to all of them. And they will tell their friends, who will also then come. It snowballs.

 

All it needs is a little more space. A hoist. A changing bench. Satisfy those requirements, and you satisfy corporate social responsibility, in a way never even thought of!

The Hidden Impact of Diabetes

More than 20 people a day have a limb amputated as a result of diabetes- a figure that is on the increase.

It’s a ‘hidden’ issue of the disease, an issue that is not widely publicised, but which might make some people who may be prone to the disease make those lifestyle changes that could prevent it developing.

Whether the illness was preventable or not, that still means over 7000 people each year have to adapt to a life-changing event, that affects every part of day to day life- even going to the loo.

Imagine if you suddenly found yourself reliant on your family, or a stranger, to help you do things you currently take for granted- making a brew and walking with it through to the lounge to watch TV, taking a shower, going to the toilet. It’s those little things where assistive technology can make a huge difference to someone’s ability to continue to live life, without having to rely on care support.

Most providers of care support think of assistive technology as telecare, but, as its name suggests, it is really any daily living aid that assists.

We know from our daily lives that technology that helps someone be able to go to, and use, the loo on their own is, to them, priceless. It may be anything from a grab rail, through a toilet lifter (the WC equivalent of a riser recliner chair) to a wash & dry (bidet) toilet. Whatever it is, it is still cheaper to provide than covering the cost of a carer going in every day just to help them go to the loo: even the ‘top of the range’ height adjustable wash & dry toilet is paid for within a matter of months when set against the cost of care support. It makes best use of available funds, and delivers better outcomes, as that carer is then freed for other duties where assistive technology can’t assist.

SELF-CONTAINED CHANGING PLACES

Thinking ‘outside the box’ has meant a campaigner for special accessible toilets has enabled one attraction to be open to everyone…

 

Sarah Brisdion’s young son Hadley loves going to their local visitor attraction Longdown Activity Farm; but as Hadley suffers from cerebral palsy, trips are often cut short through lack of suitable toilet facilities. But no longer! Sarah worked closely with the farm owners Bryan and Dawn Pass to devise, raise funds for and equip an innovative solution- creation of a Changing Places hygiene facility in a former cargo container.

 

Sarah’s family and friends, and friends of the Farm, converted the container, which has been equipped, by Britain’s leader in disabled toilet solutions Clos-o-Mat, with a WC, washbasin, privacy screen, height adjustable adult-sized changing bench and ceiling track hoist.

 

“Without the extra kit of a changing bench and hoist, I and millions of parents and carers like me, face either having to lie our loved one on the toilet floor, or cut our trip short. Changing Places are vital to our being able to spend time as a family in a way that families without disabled members take for granted,” explained Sarah.

 

“Bryan and Dawn appreciated how much Hadley loves visiting the farm, and also the impact his toilet needs had, but they didn’t have anywhere in a building they could adapt. Through my campaigning for Changing Places, I know Clos-o-Mat, and we all worked as a team to come up with an efficient, compliant solution- in the converted container!”

 

Changing Places toilets are ‘desirable’ in venues open to numbers of the public, and should be provided in addition to conventional wheelchair-accessible toilets. They give users more space- a minimum 12m2- and the equipment they need to hygienically deal with their personal care. The facility at the Farm is open to anyone registered disabled, and is one of the first of its kind in the New Forest area.

 

So far, over 800 Changing Places have been opened at venues throughout the UK.

Clos-o-Mat is the leading player in the supply and installation of Changing Places facilities. Its ability to deliver design advice, project management, supply, installation, commissioning and maintenance across the ambit of accessible toileting equipment means it is uniquely provide a reliable, single source for the whole process. Further, its website www.clos-o-mat.com, is an essential reference point for anyone considering installing a Changing Places toilet, offering white paper, 2D and 3D CAD drawings, standard layouts, and video.