The Council's achieved a green alternative to social care by allocating AAT’s Sella stairclimbers (stairclimbing wheelchairs), where appropriate, to clients needing help with stairs.
The Department used grant funding from the Council’s Green Investment Fund to purchase four Sella’s to provide an alternative to major adaptations that reduces the carbon impact of building.
In this way it has achieved a green alternative in social care provision.
Stairclimbers are mobile, portable devices- unlike conventional stair solutions such as stairlifts or through-floor lifts which require structural surveys, installation and building works. No building work is required.
The Department can re-issue-re-cycle the Class 1 Medical Device to another person when the original recipient no longer equires it. There are no building works to ‘make good’. The equipment's green credentials- and best value capital outlay- are enhanced.
To further extend the capability of the stairclimbers, the Department has also bought three of our unique Universal Seating System.
The Seating System combines back, seat, lateral and foot supports with safety harness. It ensures each user is completely supported and safe when being transferred up and down stairs.
Sarah Hole, Children’s Senior Practitioner Occupational Therapist for the Integrated Community Equipment Loan Service Clinical Team Nottinghamshire and Nottingham City Partnership, says:
“We historically have purchased AAT stairclimbers for use, where appropriate, with children and adults who have impaired mobility. The fact that they can be deployed quickly, with none of the impact of building work, makes them a useful alternative to major adaptations. It especially helps as budgets are under pressure and there is a drive to become carbon net zero.”
Dr Cate Bennett, Principal Occupational Therapist, Adult Social Care and Health at Nottinghamshire County Council, adds:
“The Principal Occupational Therapy role focuses on leading the quality assurance of occupational therapy practice, service development and improvement. It has a strategic and operational focus, and covers work within our organisation, and externally where it furthers the development of social care and occupational therapy.”
Mobilty is the biggest disability in the UK(2). Stairs are the second most common hazard in the home(3, and one of the three most common adaptations.
Our stairclimber re-issue capability(1) is unique in the inter-floor transfer sector, and is rapidly gaining momentum among local authorities nationwide as a cost-effective and quick way to keep people safe and in their own homes by managing the risk of stairs.
REFERENCES:
(1)https://www.aatgb.com/taking-steps-to-reduce-adaptation-delay-for-650-recycle/
(2)https://www.statista.com/statistics/449279/disability-prevalence-impairment-united-kingdom-uk/
(3)https://bregroup.com/press-releases/bre-report-finds-poor-housing-is-costing-nhs-1-4bn-a-year/
The impact of stairs on people’s ability to be safely discharged from hospital or to continue to live independently in their homes is widely acknowledged.
How to make it easier?
The process can be significantly accelerated with purchase of just one accessory- AAT’s unique Universal Back.
Fitted to any AAT S-Max stairclimber- which is Class 1 Medical device certified and already to hand in local authorities across the country- the Back can quickly ensure any reduced mobility user- young or old, large or small- can be safely transferred between floors.
It means the home and its wider environment- be it a house or flat- is instantly made accessible without any physical alteration.
There is no disruption to family life, whether from moving a bed downstairs for the recovery period nor the physical impact of installing larger, permanent fixtures (stairlift, through-floor lift).
The potential for re-issue of equipment is extended. There is none of the financial or emotional cost of “making good”.
For the recipient the Universal Back’s adjustable height and width supports provide stability and security even if they have asymmetry.
Optional head rests, thoracic supports, thigh supports, chest harness, and posture cushions enable precise specification if needed, without impingement on the ability of the S-Max to be operated.
For the care-giver the S-Max is easy to operate, even by a petite carer moving an obese adult. It can safely transfer any user up to 135kg/ 21st.
The S-Max can accommodate almost any staircase configuration, even half-landings, turns, and narrow flights.
The care-giver has complete control over the speed of climb or descent, and can even pause in mid-transfer if necessary.
A high centre of gravity delivers a feeling a security for the operator.
Lightness of weight makes it easy to handle and manouevre.
The battery pack can power up to 300 steps/charge and is easy to remove and recharge.
When not in use, the stairclimber folds compactly away.
“The S-Max and Universal Back combination means, that the potential risk of stairs to the client can, where appropriate, be safely supported within a matter of days.
"It means only one version needs to be held in stock in equipment stores; intervention is expediated accurately and in a timely fashion. It’s about optimum safety and minimising risk for everyone involved.”
Peter Wingrave, AAT Director
As part of the offering, AAT supports healthcare professionals in assessment of the suitability of the equipment, sets it up for each user, and trains the care-giver in the S-Max’s safe operation. It can service the equipment whether in long-term use by the recipient or when returned to stores before re-issue.
Full details of the S-Max and Universal Back can be found @ https://www.aatgb.com/s-max/, where you can also book a free, no obligation assessment.
Whether just a sign of getting older, or because we’ve had an illness that has affected our mobility, getting up and down steps and stairs is a daily issue.
It’s an issue that can have a huge impact on our quality of life, whether something as simple of going upstairs to the bathroom, or out and about.
Whether just a sign of getting older, or because we’ve had an illness that has affected our mobility, dealing with steps and stairs is a daily issue. It’s an issue that can have a huge impact on our quality of life, whether something as simple of going upstairs to the bathroom, or out and about.
All too often, short-term, the advice/answer is to move a bed downstairs.
That affects not just your feeling of privacy, but impacts on other members of the household too, and the whole family’s ability to live life.
Depending on your home, you may not even have a WC downstairs, with the consequence you may have to use a commode.
Even if short term, whilst a more permanent (and disruptive) adaptation such as a stairlift or through-floor lift, goes through the process, it could still be months of inconvenience and lack of privacy.
That’s assuming your home’s design, layout and footprint can accommodate a stairlift or through-floor lift….
A huge number of us also live in homes that have at least one step to navigate in order to go beyond the front- or back- door. Limited mobility can make even a single step an in surmountable barrier to our ability to enjoy the garden.
We are by nature on the whole sociable animals, who want, and need to interact with others.
Stairlifts and through-floor lifts enable us to still have quality of life at home, to still access all areas.
They do not enable us to venture into the wider community.
Until your mobility is reduced, you don’t realise how many shops, cafes, restaurants etc are still not “accessible” i.e. have either level or ramped access.
Stairclimbers are growing in popularity, and increasingly becoming the first choice for “inter-level transfer” by healthcare professionals. (As an aside, they are widely used by ambulance crews as the best means of moving a patient up and down stairs. It’s an added bonus that such equipment means one person, or ambulance team, can safely move a bed-ridden and/or morbidly obese person eliminating the need to send two crews to phsyically, manually manage the transfer.)
Stairclimbers can accommodate almost every design of staircase, even accommodating narrow flights, turns and landings having the smallest turning circle available in such equipment.
The battery powered unit features patented kinematics that continuously and smoothly power the unit and its passenger up and down stairs, without effort from, and at a pace set by, you the operator.
When not in use, it folds compactly away to optimise space within the home and minimise inconvenience to other family members using the stairs.
The kit is light and compact enough to fit in your car boot, and can be used outside.
The latest version to come to market is the tracked Roby, which transforms a standard wheelchair into a stairclimber.
People who have stairclimber love the independence they bring.
Paul Wray has had one for ten years for his 24 years-old daughter April.
His AAT S-Max stairclimber has moved to three different homes with the family, each time coping with the varying stair configuration (currently with a turn).
“The stairclimber is essential, I wouldn’t be without it, there’s no other way of safely getting April up and down stairs,” said Paul. “Carrying her up and down stairs was a recipe for disaster. The stairclimber made it safe, for me and April. It’s good for the whole family: when we’re not using it, the S-Max stows away. With three other children too, it can be a very full house at times! It doesn’t visibly impact on the household like a stairlift or through-floor lift would. One of the other beauties is we can pack it into the car for family holidays, widening the choice of where we can stay.”
Paul Wray
Jodie Bostock has a stairclimber for her young son Daniel, who has Cerebral Palsy.
He requires 24 hour care and has a team of care-givers- all of varying stature- to support him.
“The stairclimber is so easy, everyone can use it- whether it’s Daniels’s dad who is 6ft 3ins to his smallest carer who’s only 4ft 11 ins. Crucially, it supports and holds Daniel safely and correctly. It just works for us.”
mum Jodie
With the help of the stair climber S-Max in combination with the universal rack SDM7 it becomes possible to transport a person in his/her own wheelchair easily and comfortably up and down stairs. Furthermore, it does not 
matter whether the stairs are inside or outside.
The combination S-Max with SDM7 is available with a maximum lifting capacity of 135kg or 160kg.
Because of its universal application such as for the transportation of ill or persons with a disability or its use in public buildings, the SDM7 becomes your ideal and indispensable solution for your transportation problems. more
