Possible grant for stairlift?

onejontwo

Would any of you knowledgeable people out there know of a grant for, or towards a stair lift? The reason I am asking is after my father-in-law(who is 76) has along with many other ailments been diagnosed with a lung disease. Because of this he finds it almost impossible to walk up the stairs and if attempted is gasping for breath for around 15 minutes. Apart from moving him upstairs (which he will not agree to) and fitting a loo downstairs (no room) the only alternative is a stairlift. Is there any proceedure to getting a grant or if we paid for one what would we expect to pay? Thanks in anticipation.

Paparika

Have you contacted social services to be accessed?, how about age concern, any good?

onejontwo

He's only just come out of hospital, and as yet this is all new to us so we're just after a bit of advice with regards as what to do next.

jazabelle

Is your father in law a home owner/private tenant?

If so, there is a Disabled Facilities Grant. You would have to go to Social Services, so they can recommend one, then an application would need to be put into the council for approval. It is means tested, so if he has savings/income these would be taken into account.

If he is a council tenant then it may be a different process entirely, although some still go the Disabled Facilities Route.

You could speak to the hospital occupational therapist, who can either make the recommendation or refer him direct to social services, which will speed the process up. You can also self-refer to Social Services.

The grant can be quite a complicated process, and there are charities that can help such as Anchor Staying Put. If you google them, you can see if there is one in your area, if not there is usually some kind of home improvement agency attached to each council that can help.

travelling1

As others have stated, contact your dad's local Social Services and refer through to the Occupational Therapists. State your Dad's medical condition and the problems that he is experiencing with the stairs. Also, and more importantly inform them that he is having great difficulties getting up to use the toilet as the only toilet is upstairs. This should hopefully make the referral urgent rather than sitting in the backlog.
If you Dad has savings of over 22k I wouldn't go through Social Services as you will end up paying for all the stairlift cost plus their 5% admin costs.

Lorne

Definitely get an OT assessment from Social Work, they will be able to assess/provide/or access funding as appropriate.

gate11

My mum went for one of theses grants and had her means test she got told you don't have to pay for anything , We thought great because of her illness she was put at the top of the list.
We were told she will get the stir lift in 6 weeks i didn't hear anything so i phone my local council, i was told everything is in place but the council has ran out of money he added the council only gets so much money each year and there is no more money to spend so we have to wait, They knew we had to carry my mum up and down stairs in her wheelchair as we have a gas fire, But our backs were giving up.

We felt so sorry for my mum she was told on leaving hospital we can let you go home because you will get your stair lift fast but that was months ago, we were letting our mum down, Our doctors told me to write to my local MP and he told us he has wrote to the head of our local council which we got a letter saying he was looking into my mums case within two weeks from the MP receiving my letter my mum got her stair lift, So i just don't know where they got the money from .

So please if your local council tells you they have ran out of money please write to your MP.

Good luck and never give up hope.