Adapting your home to you

As we get older, day to day tasks often become more difficult. Simple every day tasks such as bathing, negotiating steps or getting in and out of your home can become huge obstacles.

There are lots of different ways we can adapt your home to you, from grab rails and ramps to bathing aids and stair lifts. All of which will help you live independently for longer.

How we can help

We have a range of products and changes that we can make to your home, to make your life easier. They fall into two categories:

Minor changes

Minor changes include things like:

• Grab bars

• Handrails for staircases

• Door and wall protectors

• Lever taps

Major changes

Major changes include things like:

• Level access showers

• Additional toilet facilities

• Lift installations

• And improving the access to your home

There are many other adaptations we can supply and will always try to provide the best solution to meet your needs such as:

• Making it easier for you to move around inside your home by fitting grab bars and stair rails. If you feel these would be helpful to you please give us a call and we will arrange for a surveyor to visit you to show you some samples of what is available.

• Making access into and out of your home easier by installing ramps, making doorways wider and making outside steps less steep.

• Bathing can be made easier by fitting a special seat in your shower, changing your taps to an easy use lever type tap and fitting shower mixer taps.

• Fitting a range of helpful gadgets for people with hearing or visual impairments. Including; smoke alarms and door entry systems with visual, audible and vibration alerts.

How can I get the work done?

Before we can start work you may need a letter from your doctor, hospital or occupational therapist, who will recommend what type of work you need. In some cases you may need to contact Social Services who can help you decide what type of work will most suit your needs.

Give us a call on 0800 195 5515 and speak to a customer service advisor who will be able to explain what you need to do next.

How much will the work cost?

If the changes to your home will cost £1000 or less we will carry out the work free of charge regardless of your income.

Any work costing more than this will need to be funded by a Disabled Facilities Grant. These grants are means tested and your local council will look at your income and savings and then assess how much you may have to pay.

If you need changes to be made to your kitchen or bathroom we will try to do the work as part of our planned kitchen and bathroom replacement programme.

How long will I have to wait?

Small changes like fitting hand rails to stair cases or lever style taps to sinks and baths, can be approved by our surveyors and will normally take a few weeks to complete.

If the changes to your home are more substantial and need to be assessed by an occupational therapist, they will take longer to complete.

The occupational therapist may need to visit you at home to properly understand what your needs are. This will also give us important information about the size, location and type of materials needed to complete the changes to your home.

You can speak to an Occupational Therapist by contacting your nearest Social Services Department call 0845 6004555 for details. They will let us know their recommendations for the changes you need and then we will plan the work into our schedule. Once the work is ordered it is normally finished within three working weeks.

Let us know what you think

Your comments help us make sure we give the best possible service. Once the work is finished we will ask for your views about the work and service you have received from us.

If you are unsatisfied with any aspect of our service please let us know. Contact our Customer Services team on 0800 195 5515 from a landline or 0300 666 5515 from a mobile who will explain how we will deal with your complaint. If your complaint is about the Occupational Therapist team you should contact them directly.