Housing for All

There has been much talk in the media of late about the growing need for affordable housing.

 

What about the growing need for accessible housing?

 

New research has highlighted that there is a dire lack of suitable homes, whether in the private sector or social housing, to accommodate people with a disability.

 

Estimates put the current UK accessible housing stock at 5% of all homes. Disabled people represent at least 20% of the UK population: that’s a huge potential gap to be addressed! And with our ageing and increasingly obese (with all its associated implications) population, the need is only going to increase.

 

The research quotes examples where there has been a significant investment in time and money giving people rehabilitation and support to enable them to get out of hospital and into society, yet lack of suitable homes for them to move into means that effort is wasted.

 

There have been four Select Committee reports calling for national targets for accessible homes. There is a duty under the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017 to consider the housing needs of disabled people.  But few local authorities actually implement anything.

 

If targets are set, they can be achieved. Greater London, for example, insists that 10% of newbuilds are wheelchair accessible; as a result the area is proven to have lower average waiting times for accessible homes.

 

It isn’t hard to build a lifetime/ accessible home: level access, wider doorways, a ground floor WC, and potential to add a hoist to aid transfer from, particularly, bedroom to bathroom, are key features.

 

So come on developers: lead the way whatever sector you operate in, just slightly adjust your designs and build processes, and enable millions of people to get on with living life.

And come on Government: legislate for national targets, make accessible housing a legal requirement. It will pay off: it will help reduce the pressures on other public services- particularly NHS and social care- by enabling people to be in their own homes, and independent.

TURN TO TECH TO PREPARE FOR ‘BIG IMPLICATIONS FOR CARE’

New statistics maintain that by 2025 almost 3million over 65s will need care provision, with a quarter of later life spent with some kind of disability(*). Simultaneously, Age UK is alleging that, already, more than 1million people are left to struggle with day-to-day tasks.

Says Caroline Abrahams of Age UK, in a recent article, “There are big implications for contemporary life, including housing, health and care” as a result of our ageing population. Under its Care in Crisis campaign, the charity particularly singles out using the toilet as an issue. Using the toilet IS one of the biggest issues: we go to the loo on average eight times a day!

But it is too frequently overlooked at the expense of the more obvious, less sensitive tasks such as getting dressed, preparing a meal. Think about it: if someone struggles to turn the pages of a newspaper, how can they grasp and tear toilet tissue, and then wipe themselves? If they need a riser recliner chair, don’t they need similar with the WC?

Bear in mind, under the Care Quality Commission guidance for providers, people’s individual needs should be met, and their independence promoted. Premises may need to be adapted to deliver those criteria. And simply phrasing questions with analogies above easily enables identification of toileting as an issue, without offending any personal sensitivities.

Actually, in our experience, once the topic is out in the open, it is welcomed! It’s just not a subject the older generation willingly raise. A more holistic approach to use of budgets could alleviate some of the pressure, enabling people to undertake at least that daily task without help. Think how long it takes care staff to help someone answer the call of nature.

What if, where appropriate, that person was given the tools (aka the assistive technology, equipment) to so do unaided? The cost would be quickly mortised against staff costs. In addition, potentially, once that person no longer needed the equipment, there is no over-riding reason why it could not be re-allocated to someone else, or moved to a different location, to enable another to benefit. For example, a Closomat wash & dry toilet in one en-suite in a care home would be used by all residents who occupied that room over years. A Closomat wash & dry toilet in an individual’s home can be adapted with accessories, at the outset or retrospectively, to tailor it to their needs as those change with time- something that is unique to Closomat. (http://www.clos-o-mat.com/index.php/products/case-studies/88-palma-vita-case-studies/domestic/267-marilyn-carr.html)

One of Closomat’s Aerolet toilet lifters could enable a person to get on and off the WC without help. If in an individual’s home, when they no longer needed it, it could be moved to a different address to deliver the same benefit to another. So even though the capital cost has been recouped, the equipment is still delivering benefit- in effect free of charge! There are further benefits too. By empowering the recipient to undertake something so intimate without help, you enhance their feeling of independence, empowerment, of being in control. All have significant psychological benefits, improving the person’s mental health and thus potentially reducing the need for medical intervention. Such equipment can help them stay in their own home, reducing their need for care support, so you ease the strain on already stretched homecare resources. It alleviates their need for admission to a residential care home, so you ease the strain on the lack of available beds.

James Randall is a case in point: http://www.clos-o-mat.com/index.php/products/case-studies/93-aerolet-case-studies/431-the-best-bathroom-in-the-world.html So isn’t it time we adopted a more holistic approach, to alleviate the potential crisis? After all, every little helps.

 

ENDS (*) The Lancet Public Health Journal

GUARANTEE FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING? INVEST IN PRE-CARE

There are plans afoot for a cross-party guarantee for independent living- in essence, investment in ‘pre-care’ measures to ensure our homes and communities are designed for age and mobility, so that more people are able to take care of themselves and their families at home, for longer.

 

It’s a great plan, but is it just re-working strategies that have already been mooted, for years? Strategies such as lifetime homes, that create a home designed to enable people to live their for their lifetime, with little need for alteration to accommodate decreasing mobility.

There is another interpretation of lifetime homes: that of the cost of adaptation, or providing care. In the automotive industry, lifetime costs already takes into account not just the build and running costs, but the impact beyond- the environmental considerations in shipping parts, and the end disposal. Should we not apply that ‘whole life’ cost to our homes too? How much is the hidden cost of future adaptation, provision of care?

 

It’s not hard to design the home from the outset so that doorways are wide enough for a wheelchair, that doorways are aligned to facilitate later installation of a hoist to help transfer within a room, and from one room to another.

 

But many in the design and build process forget that the one room that is subject to a home adaptation more than any other is the bathroom.

 

And the one area within that room that is most commonly changed in some way is the toilet. It may be something as simple as adding a grab rail, raising the toilet seat height, or changing the seat. Sometimes it is a bigger alteration- like switching the conventional WC for a wash & dry one.

 

There is much focus on the cost of care. Numerous trials have proved, time and again, that effective use of daily/ independent living aids makes better use of available funds, compared to the cost of providing a carer to visit.

There is a hidden cost here too, in providing care support- that of the impact of having a stranger help you on and off the toilet, of having a stranger wipe our bum. What price the feeling of dignity, independence? And what cost to the NHS on treating the mental, and physical, issues, arising as a result?

 

To my mind, any strategy that enables someone to retain any degree of independence is a good thing. We just need a more holistic approach to costs. We need incentives to encourage housing providers, be it in the private or public sector, to design, and build, homes that require little or no major adaptation. We need a view that a capital cost that empowers someone to be independent for even a few months is better- and actually cheaper- than turning to the established method of providing care support.

 

That way, those that really do need the care support, where assistive technology, living aids are not suitable, can benefit, and potentially receive better care from resources that are less under pressure.

THE LONG AND SHORT OF INCLUSION

 

 Social- and wider- media has recently seen a flurry of activity around the fact that wheelchair accessible toilets fail to accommodate huge numbers of users.

 

The issue is that there is an assumption that anyone in the wheelchair can transfer from the wheelchair to the toilet and back on their own.

 

We all know what happens when we ass-u-me something…

 

Analysis of wheelchair use shows that around 30% of the UK’s 1.2million wheelchair users do not have powered chairs, and need a carer to propel them. Many wheelchair users also need assistance to transfer. They need their carer to lift them and support them.

Therefore none of those people can use a conventional Document M toilet. It doesn’t give them space to accommodate their carer. It doesn’t give lifting capability.

 

It also doesn’t address the needs of the carer: if they need the loo when away from home, supporting their wheelchair-using caree, what do they do? Abandon them outside?

 

Both of these issues are rarely considered, yet demonstrate yet another reason why the regulations on accessible toilet provision need to be amended. The Changing Places campaign calls for venues to prove an assisted accessible toilet facility with a ceiling track hoist, adult sized changing bench, privacy screen. It says almost1/4million people need ALL of those additional fixtures.

But what about the people you only need one of those additional elements? My point above relating to space the carers and lifting demonstrates instantly that there are a further 360,000 people you need to facilities. That figure doesn’t include their carers. Nor does it include the tens of thousands of people who suffer from incontinence. Nor does it include tall wheelchair users, who may be able to self propel, but once on the loo, because of their height and disability, they can’t transfer back!

 

I am sure if you ask the wider disabled community, they would site numerous other potential uses of one or two of the extra benefits included in a Changing Places toilet.

 

In this age of inclusion, where there is even the provision of facilities for transgender, shouldn’t we first be accommodating the majority? The simple solution is to start with the majority, a toilet facility that accommodates most, and work backwards.

 

The basic provision should be a 12m², unisex, wheelchair-accessible toilet with adult sized changing bench, ceiling hoist and screen. That covers everyone. There is no reason why you can’t provide several of these in place of all the usual, separate, female, male, baby change, and wheelchair-accessible facilities. And it addresses the more “niche” sectors- ambulant disabled, transgender.

 

So by providing g one, genuinely “all inclusive” toilet facility, you open your doors to true inclusion, accessibility.

 

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

OPENING THE DOOR ON ‘AWAY FROM HOME’ TOILETING

It’s reasonable, isn’t it, when you’re doing the weekly shop, out for a meal, that you can go to the toilet, ‘ on site’ if you need?

 

Yet for up to 14million people*, it’s not something they can take for granted. Closomat, Britain’s leader in away from home assisted accessible toilets, reports that one campaigner for these facilities has recently been told that, as there are suitable conveniences within a mile of her local supermarket, it won’t put in those special toilets. So potentially, she has to abandon her shop and leave the store should her son need intimate care attention.

 

Under the Equality Act (which replaced the Disability Discrimination Act), service providers are required to make reasonable changes- including to the built environment- where a disabled customer or potential customer would otherwise be at a substantial disadvantage. Is the situation above acceptable, or does it leave that family at a substantial disadvantage…?

 

That family above is not alone. Estimates indicate conventional wheelchair-accessible (Document M) toilets fail to meet the requirements of up to 14 million people^(*). They may need help to get on, off, clean themselves. They may need to be lifted. They may need changing. That is all equipment provided by assisted accessible toilets, be they Changing Places or their counterpart Space to Change toilets.

 

The Changing Places campaign states 230,000 people in the UK need these toilets. That figure is based on the number of people who need the support of up to two carers, and need a hoist, and need a changing table, and need a privacy screen.

There are millions of others who need only one or two of those extra facilities and fixtures – for example, a third of wheelchair users rely on a carer to propel them; if you are a carer, the chances are you struggle to lift the person you care for from the wheelchair onto the toilet- you need a hoist. According to the Bladder & Bowel Foundation, more people in Britain suffer from faecal incontinence than suffer from asthma or diabetes, so may need changing facilities. And what about the carer of a disabled person? Are they supposed to abandon them outside the loo when they need to ’go’?

 

Changing Places & Space to Change

Under current Building Regulations, a Changing Places is desirable in buildings to which numbers of the pubic have access. It refers to the British Standard BS8300 for the definition, which, at its core, is:

• A toilet facility in addition to a conventional wheelchair-accessible toilet
• 3m x 4m with a ceiling height of 2.4m
• ceiling track hoist
• adult-sized changing bench
• privacy screen

 

Campaigners for Changing Places have found that many venues say they cannot install the facility because of the required space, and/or the cost of all the additional equipment. Thus, with the support of Closomat, the Space to Change campaign was born.

 

Space to Change bridges the gap between conventional wheelchair accessible toilets and the supplementary Changing Places. Space to Change builds on the Regulatory requirement that says even when only one WC is provided, it should be a wheelchair-accessible toilet. Space to Change asks that just 5m² is added to that standard wheelchair-accessible facility (to give a total 7.5m²), to enable inclusion of an adult-sized changing bench and hoist. Already it is being positively received from retail brands and leading supermarkets, as a viable solution to their ability to accommodate specific customer needs without majorly altering existing outlets.

 

Size Matters

There are specific reasons why those dimensions are chosen. There is a trend towards conceding on the dimensions to ensure the facility is provided, but reduce it too far, and the room becomes unuseable!

Campaigners say anything less than 7.5m² means that whilst they can get themselves and their loved one into the room, it becomes almost impossible to manoeuvre the wheelchair and safely execute a transfer to the WC or changing bench.

 

There have also been instances where the ceiling is lower. That has meant there isn’t the necessary clearance to use the hoist to lift the person from the wheelchair onto the toilet or bench.

 

It is therefore sensible to utilise the skillset of away from home toilet providers who can properly assess the potential space, advise on considerations (down to whether the structure is strong enough to load bear the hoist and bench), and ensure the completed installation and compliant in every way- and useable!

 

 

Shout About It!

So often, venues install a Changing Places or Space to Change and leave it at that. Then they wonder why it’s not used.

 

Closomat has developed a package of measures to help venues optimise the facility. In addition to officially registering the toilet, it can provide in-depth staff training, and various signs to help users maximise the facility’s potential.

 

Closomat also suggests it’s sensible to do much more than just put a sign on the door. It proposes:

– Extend signage throughout your premises- perhaps even put something in the window

– Promote it on your website

– Promote it on your social media

– Tell your local media

– Promote it to local wheelchair user groups and other local disability charities- maybe even run special events, discounts for potential users…

 

“If people don’t know about it, how can they use it?” asks Ian Tomlinson, Closomat director responsible for away from home toileting. “Because of lack of appropriate toilets, people who need these facilities either cut their trip short, only go somewhere they know they can ‘go’, or don’t go out at all. The more providers publicise the facilities, the more they will be used.”

 

Toilet provision pays

Regardless of the social/ corporate responsibility aspects of providing such facilities, there are financial benefits too.

 

Disabled people spend up to £249billion a year. Parties with a disabled member spend £12.4billion a year on travel and tourism- a figure that would only increase if they knew they could expect appropriate toilet facilities.

 

Provision of Closomat Changing Places and Space to Change is proven to pay. Alton Towers opened its Changing Places and Space to Change at the start of the 2017 season, and is seeing the facilities used on average 20 times/day, every day.

 

Cornwall Services on the busy A30 trunk road opened its facility a year ago, and is seeing it used on average 10 times/ day, with visitors reporting stopping there specifically because of the toilet.

“We are so pleased with the positive response we continue to have: one of the best projects I think I’ve been involved with in terms of the effect it has directly had on guests,” says Justine Locker, Resort Excellence Manager at Alton Towers.

 

Clos-o-Mat is the only UK company with the in-house capability to advice on, help design, supply, install, commission and then service & maintain all the equipment required to create either a Changing Places or Space to Change facility. Its website www.clos-o-mat.com is now the ‘go to’ resource for away from home toilet provision guidance; it contains typical layouts, details of regulatory and best practice compliance, CAD blocks, videos, and white papers.

ENDS

^(*)Potential users of a wheelchair-accessible toilet with space, bench and hoist include:

– 1.5m wheelchair users

– 6.5 million people who have either bladder or bowel incontinence

-1.5million people with a learning disability

– 1.2million people living with stroke

– 62,000 amputees

– 30,000 people with cerebral palsy

– 13,000 people with acquired brain injuries

– 8,500 people with multiple sclerosis

– 100,000 [people with muscular dystrophies

– 5000 people with motor neurone disease

– 8,000 people with spina bifida

– 40,000 people with spinal injuries

– 120,000 people with a stoma

– 3.8million adults morbidly obese

– 0.8million disabled children

– 8.7million people with osteoarthritis

– 400,000 people with rheumatoid arthritis

Do You ‘Get It’?

We would hope that the people who deliver the buildings we visit in our leisure have a degree of intelligence.

I appreciate they have a huge number of Regulations to consider, but why, in this age of an inclusive society, is there a prevailing inability to recognise that if you accommodate the needs of our growing disabled, elderly population, custom increases?

Latest figures show 11million people in the UK are now disabled. That’s 20% of the population. For many of them doing something special, let alone something basic like going shopping, stopping for a coffee, isn’t possible because of their toilet requirements. They may need the help of a carer. They may need changing. They may be unable to transfer from a wheelchair unaided, and need lifting. ‘Normal’ ‘disabled’ toilets don’t fit the bill. They need extra space and equipment.

We understand that there are major commercial decisions involved in the provision of toilet facilities- primarily those of space and cost. But if your business relies on people spending time with you to be profitable, why deliberately exclude a proportion of customers?

You’ll provide a baby change without even thinking about it. Yet look at the numbers: there have been 2.1million births in England & Wales in total in the past three years. That’s a fifth of the number of disabled people. A ceiling track hoist takes up no more space. A changing bench does require a couple of m2. It doesn’t have to be a whole, additional WC facility; it can just be an addition in the obligatory unisex wheelchair-accessible toilet.

But how many more people will visit, and spend, if you accommodate them? And they are usually accompanied, so it’s at least twice the custom. They will tell their friends. Who will tell their friends.

Yes there is a capital cost. But there is with every other fixture and fitting. Do you analyse its contribution to profit before committing to it? And does it make you feel good, to be enabling someone to have a good time out, who otherwise might never get to go out for more than an hour in case they need the loo? Do you ‘get’ why it actually pays to accommodate everyone? Start with the many, and work back to the few…

ENDS

http://www.clos-o-mat.com/index.php/away-from-home.html

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.

Return Trips to the Loo

by Sarah Rennie

I recently went to Stockholm on a family mini break, flying via Heathrow Airport. I was delighted to see we were flying from Terminal 5 which has a Changing Places WC. This meant I could enjoy my customary on-board G&T and not worry about being bursting for the loo.

 

Changing Places make a real difference to disabled people who can’t transfer without a hoist or need a changing bench. These passengers, including myself, are more likely to need to get to the airport earlier because we’ll be needing to check-in specialist equipment including powered wheelchairs. So we need to leave the house earlier to go to the airport. After the flight, on landing, we are always the last ones off the aircraft whilst our wheelchairs are unloaded. We then might have to wait for specialist transport to take us to our hotels. Even for relatively short flights to Europe, this could easily mean a 12 hour wait without the loo from home to hotel. CPs users are more likely to incur longer door-to-door journeys and yet we are the ones for whom toilet facilities are invariably not provided.

 

Changing Places also need to be at both airports in your journey, in departures and arrivals. It’s so frustrating to land after 7 hours without going to the loo, get distracted trying to solve problems with your powered chair, get whizzed through Passport Control by an eager airport assistant and then realise the Changing Places loo is ‘air side’ and you’ve missed your chance. A 2-hour drive home at 1am whilst bursting for the loo awaits. What a nice end to your ‘relaxing’ mini break!

 

Guidance* urges Changing Places to be available in all major transport hubs. Yes, but they need to be in all terminals, not just ‘air side’ and at both ends of your journey.

 

 

 

*BS8300:2009

Sarah’s blog also demonstrates that Changing Places are needed by so many people, not just those who need the help of a carer to go to the loo….

Picture © Daniel Graves Photography 2014. SHOWS:

Leicester Champions Disability

A citywide programme to make Leicester accessible to all visitors has taken a major step forward with the opening of a state-of-the-art Changing Places toilet at the new Haymarket Bus Station.

The £13.5million regeneration of the city’s main bus station has creating a modern, comfortable environment with an attractive concourse building replacing the collection of 1990s bus shelters that previously stood on the site. Among the key features of the new building is the new Changing Places toilet, supplied and fitted by Clos-o-Mat.

 

The new Changing Places toilet at the bus station is wheelchair accessible and offers a height-adjustable adult-sized changing bench, a celling track hoist, and plenty of space for carers. This latest facility brings the number of Changing Places toilets in Leicester / Leicestershire to 20.

 

Kay Wyeth, Changing Places project lead at Leicester City Council, said: “The city council is making significant investment in the regeneration of Leicester, and the Changing places programme is a key part of that.

 

“Knowing that there are fully accessible toilets available in the city centre means that families don’t have to limit outings to a few short hours, and instead can enjoy a day out without worrying about such a basic need.

“That’s why the inclusion of a Changing Places toilet was such an important element of the regeneration of the city’s main bus station.To our knowledge, no other city outside of the capital has as many Changing Places in either its centre, or surrounding areas.”

 

The new Haymarket Bus Station is also completely level access, and pavements surrounding the bus station have been widened, and block-paved. The bus station also incorporates the Shopmobility centre, which offers free loans of scooters and wheelchairs to disabled visitors.

 

Under current regulations, it is desirable for Changing Places toilets to be installed in any building to which members of the public have access.

Clos-o-Mat is Britain’s leading provider of disabled toilet solutions, in people’s homes, and in public environments. It is also the biggest supplier and installer of Changing Places toilets – and has installed the majority of the 20 facilities in Leicestershire.

 

Uniquely, Clos-o-Mat can provide an in-house, ‘one- stop-shop’ complete package for ‘away from home’ assisted accessible toilet facilities, from design and commissioning, through to project management, supply and installation, and can also provide subsequent maintenance and repair.Leices

Toilet Accessibility- Double Discrimination?

Stores, eateries, cinemas, tourist attractions, hospitals and similar buildings accessed by the public are potentially double-discriminating when they fail to provide appropriate toilets…

 

New research by the Papworth Trust¹ highlights that 17% of disabled people complained that accessing bathroom facilities when away from home created a barrier, because of location, layout and size, and it was one of the top 10 issues they face.

 

“In reality, the figure is significantly higher than that, as many disabled children and adults need carer support to go ‘out and about’,” observes Robin Tuffley, marketing manager at Clos-o-Mat, Britain’s leading provider of disabled toilet solutions. “If their carer needs the toilet, what are they supposed to do? Leave their charge alone, or take them to the toilet with them? Many conventional wheelchair-accessible toilets only have the room to accommodate one person in a wheelchair, not a carer as well. So failure to provide appropriate toilets is almost doubly discriminatory.

 

“And under the Equality Act- which replaces and encompasses the Disability Discrimination Act, venues have to make reasonable adjustments including to the built environment where a disabled person is put at a substantial disadvantage, and those adjustments should be made in anticipation. Assisted accessible toilets are needed by potentially up to 5million people in the UK³, plus their carers, so potentially up to 10million people are being discriminated against; even if you take the 17% from the Papworth Trust report, that’s still 1.7million adults and children.”

 

The solution is provision of either a Space to Change or Changing Places toilet.

 

A Space to Change facility builds on the existing wheelchair-accessible toilet, which venues are legally obliged under Building Regulations² to provide, even if no other toilet is installed. It requires a little more space, to deliver a total 7.5m², with an adult-sized changing bench and hoist included too.

 

A Changing Places toilet is in addition to a wheelchair-accessible toilet, and is, under British Standards (BS8300:2009), 12m², with the additional equipment of a height-adjustable adult-sized changing bench, ceiling track hoist and privacy screen.

 

Clos-o-Mat is the only British company that can, in-house, not only provide all the equipment for each, but deliver full project management of an install, and subsequent service & maintenance of the fixtures. It is now recognised as the ‘go to’ single source for efficient, fully-compliant creation and ongoing management of an’ away from home’ assisted accessible toilet, be it Space to Change or Changing Places.