Help with house modifications

Castle · July 24, 2020, 9:03am

Hello everybody,

My husband has parkies and is 76. He can be great and he can be awful and when he is having a bad spell it’s very difficult to get him about the house. We have a stair lift and a few other helpful bits n bobs but when these spells hit him he cannot walk and loses balance and collapses so we need to be getting the wheelchair out.

We really need to think about how to make the house wheelchair accessible. Fortunately I think we have a few options but it’s an old house on different levels and we are concerned to make sure the changes we make, I.e ramps, are put in the right place. We had a referral to OT but they phoned yesterday and said they just deal with loo frames etc and Physiotherapy, they said contact social services.

Have any of you made wheelchair adaptations and who’s advice did you take for how/where to change your house?

Want to avoid costly mistakes of course!

Thank you for taking the time to read this x

Gerrard · July 24, 2020, 2:57pm

Hello, Have a look at the following website: www.theramppeople.co.uk.
They sell all kinds of portable ramps for accessing your home. We obtained a ramp with handrails to facilitate access to our home for my wife who is is disabled and uses a wheelchair. The ramp is very sturdy and left in situ permanently but can easily be removed and did not require any major modifications to our house. Gerrard

Castle · July 24, 2020, 9:23pm

Gerrard thank you so much. I’ve just had a quick look and buying a portable ramp means it’s there for us when we need it without it being a permanent feature. It never occurred to me to look for a ramp supplier! Thanks again

Pippa · July 27, 2020, 7:27am

Hi @Castle

Have been looking into the same. Tried for OT assessment but was told to go to social service, who sent a ( lengthy of course ) form to be completed for…OT assessment, which seems to be part of the Independent Living scheme. I don’t know if that is a national thing. We are in the Midlands. I suspect it will be a long wait to be seen/ assessed, and whether they will recommend anything other than what we already have ( seat raisers, commode etc) remains to be seen but like you I need some independent advice re what to get, rather than forking out on some expensive equipment sold by a company who assures me that it is exactly the thing that I need to solve all my problems.

Age UK produce a booklet ( at least in this area) with list of local trusted businesses so that is worth a look , to access advice without pressure ( hopefully)

Best wishes

10kmk · August 7, 2020, 9:31pm

So, we live in Cambridgeshire and their OT service can recommend house adaptations however, you have to have a ridiculously low income to be able to benefit from them. We were rejected, but were told to try my employer for assistance - who happened to be the people who said we had too high an income to be able to have assistance to get an accessible bathroom (go figure)

Castle · August 8, 2020, 9:08am

Thanks everyone. 10kmk, it’s all a bit nuts isn’t it! Just adds to the stress really as it takes up so much precious time to get nowhere.

I think we have sorted our needs with the portable ramps. We have a wheelchair for those no balance moments and a portable ramp will give us access to the house.

If it’s of interest to anyone the best things we’ve done are rails next to the loo, the stairlift is fantastic and taken soooo much worry away (although it’s not helpful for maintaining leg strength of course), portable ramp, wheelchair and probably our best buy has been a bidet toilet. Expensive but very very worth it. Oh and a grab rail that goes under the mattress.

10kmk · August 8, 2020, 3:45pm

Just had a thought. Does your council have a 'technology assisted care’s team. they can advise and provide tech solutions to a lot of issues people have

benji · August 10, 2020, 12:22am

I’ve just praised the installation of a bidet toilet on another post. Also a wet room with a remote control for the shower.

Pippa · August 12, 2020, 4:15pm

Hi @benji,
I have seen rather mixed reviews re bidet toilets - mostly that they neither clean or dry properly - not to mention that they are pretty expensive - is there a particular model you would recommend?

thanks

Pippa

Castle · August 12, 2020, 4:59pm

Our loo was a really good purchase and we’ve just had the bathroom done with a remote so yes, full praise for these items too!

Castle · August 12, 2020, 5:02pm

Hi pippa. We ended up with a washloo premier. We originally bought a washloo seat as we had a squareish toilet and didn’t want to replace the bathroom suite, just rearrange to make it work better. The seat was too long for our loo so we replaced the whole thing in the end. It was expensive! But it has been worth it, without going into details, it’s making life much easier for my lovely hubby and as his carer it helps me too. Worth investigating. Hope that helps

benji · August 12, 2020, 7:41pm

Hi,

The make of mine is uspa. The instruction booklet lists the following model numbers; 7035R, 7235, 7220, 7215, 7210, 7000.

I took the advice of a specialist wet room installer. He also brought at least 3 toilets for me to choose f rom to ensure a good fit for the system so no toilet bowl protruding out beyond the bidet. Looks like a normal toilet but higher. I suggest a high rise toilet bowl.

It is touch control with the following functions: cleaning, bidet oscillation, kids, sitz bath and stop. You can stop any of these functions at any time, you don’t have to go through the full programmed time, by touching … stop.

There are also touch controls for nozzle position, water temperature, water pressure and seat temperature. It also has a soft close seat.

Mine is plumbed in so no having to top up the water.

I find it great. Very little maintenance beyond wiping it over. No chemicals should be used. Yes, they are expensive but worth every penny.

Regards

R

Pippa · August 15, 2020, 11:49am

Many thanks Benji

benji · August 15, 2020, 11:54pm

You are very welcome.

benji · August 15, 2020, 11:56pm

Pippa,

As for cleaning and drying. You do have to be in the correct position for both to be successful!

Pippa · August 24, 2020, 7:47am

Have just found (buried deep in my Favourites - so presumably accessed ages ago and then forgotten about) a website with a lot of really useful info about all things “independent” - www.independentliving.co.uk. Does not seem to be linked to any particular provider but I have not looked carefully enough as yet - advice re toileting issues amongst others seems to be on a par with what other experienced users are saying on here. So much info out there - it is just a question of knowing where to look and can sometimes feel like searching for the proverbial needle.

benji · December 5, 2020, 12:13am

Just had an e mail notification with your query. As I said previously, I didn’t want the toilet to look out of place. It took many toilets in my conservatory to find one where the rim of the toilet did not jut out beyond the bidet function addition.

Hi,

The make of mine is uspa. The instruction booklet lists the following model numbers; 7035R, 7235, 7220, 7215, 7210, 7000.

I took the advice of a specialist wet room installer. He also brought at least 3 toilets for me to choose f rom to ensure a good fit for the system so no toilet bowl protruding out beyond the bidet. Looks like a normal toilet but higher. I suggest a high rise toilet bowl.

It is touch control with the following functions: cleaning, bidet oscillation, kids, sitz bath and stop. You can stop any of these functions at any time, you don’t have to go through the full programmed time, by touching … stop.

There are also touch controls for nozzle position, water temperature, water pressure and seat temperature. It also has a soft close seat.

Mine is plumbed in so no having to top up the water.

I find it great. Very little maintenance beyond wiping it over. No chemicals should be used. Yes, they are expensive but worth every penny.

Regards

R

Reply

Pippa

Aug 15

Many thanks Benji

Reply

benji

Aug 16

You are very welcome.

Reply

benji

Aug 16

Pippa,

As for cleaning and drying. You do have to be in the correct position for both to be successful!

Reply

8 DAYS LATER

Pippa

Aug 24

Have just found (buried deep in my Favourites - so presumably accessed ages ago and then forgotten about) a website with a lot of really useful info about all things “independent” - www.independentliving.co.uk . Does not seem to be linked to any particular provider but I have not looked carefully enough as yet - advice re toileting issues amongst others seems to be on a par with what other experienced users are saying on here. So much info out there - it is just a question of knowing where to look and can sometimes feel like searching for the proverbial needle.

Reply

ShareBookmarkFlagReply

Tracking

You will see a count of new replies because you posted a reply to this topic.

Help with house modifications

Suggested Topics