Mobility stair lift

daylad

Hi, i rent a stairlift for my mum from a private company, but i am struggling to pay the rent every month, would my council supply her one for free through care and repair or similar, our council would be monmouthshire county council, thanks

HB58

You need to get in touch with your council's occupational therapists. Someone will visit to assess your mother's needs and let you know what financial help is available. You can self-refer to the OTs, you should be able to find the details on-line.

colin13

I have MS and the ot recomend a through floor lift,just bacause later MS mite get worse ,and in the long run saves them money,,but I dont want to go that far just now so ill plod on,if u have an illness that may get worse,dont be surprised if they mention this

anguk

My husband got a stairlift installed and it didn't cost us anything. I got in touch with the council and they arranged for an Occupational Therapist to assess my husband, the stairlift was paid with a Disabled Facilities Grant.

I will warn you though it took 8 months for the staitlift to be installed after the assessment because there's a lot of paperwork etc.

Monmouthshire Council Disabled Services:
http://www.monmouthshire.gov.uk/info/200034/disabilities/239/physical_disabilities

Disabled Facilities Grant:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/disabledpeople/homeandhousingoptions/yourhome/dg_4000642

p999j

My Mum was assessed by an OT and is in a council house and got a stair chair fitted free of charge. However, the council are now trying to charge her £60 per year. She is currently working through her MP to deal with this situation.

It might not seem like a lot of money, but she is on the min pension, and they have decided to inflict this charge 2 years after it has been installed, having been told at time of fitting that there would be no cost to her. Yet another tax on ill health and disability.

Frustrates me that she is getting hassle about this. If she was in a council home or had to move house (Living room downstairs, only loo upstairs) it would cost a lot more.
How can the elderly be treated this badly?:mad:

anguk

p999j wrote: »

My Mum was assessed by an OT and is in a council house and got a stair chair fitted free of charge. However, the council are now trying to charge her £60 per year. She is currently working through her MP to deal with this situation.

It might not seem like a lot of money, but she is on the min pension, and they have decided to inflict this charge 2 years after it has been installed, having been told at time of fitting that there would be no cost to her. Yet another tax on ill health and disability.

Frustrates me that she is getting hassle about this. If she was in a council home or had to move house (Living room downstairs, only loo upstairs) it would cost a lot more.
How can the elderly be treated this badly?:mad:

It's not just the elderly, it's other disabled people too. We recently had a form to fill in from our Council, they're thinking about charging people for the servicing/repairs to stairlifts. There was an option to add any views, I said it was a terrible idea as some people just wouldn't be able to afford it and they'd end up using unsafe or dangerous equipment.

mum2one

we've had a stairlift put in through the OT via a disabled grant, we own the house, the problem I can see straight away is you have an existing stairlift it, you may well hit a brick wall.

For example if the contract was up, that may be a differnet kettle of fish, its not an overnight process, took it took about 6 months for the 1st, which unfortunately was the worst one in history, after the warrenty was up the company wiped their hands, and eventually the stairlift was condemmed, but even being pushed through as urgent, that was 5 months,

Parva

I was forwarded by my hospital OT to Social Services. The lady paid a visit and watched me make my way (painfully) upstairs and recommended to the council (Leeds City Council) that I was in significant need of a stairlift (with a powered swivel and footrest too) and a complete wetroom rather than the swivel chair I had over the bath and the in-bath shower setup.

That was back in mid-February. As of a fortnight ago I now have both fitted and working. Worked out perfect really as Stannah came and fitted the stairlift on the Tuesday and the builder for the bathroom turned up Wednesday (a week with no bathing facilities was a challenge however, particularly with it being heatwave week)! All in all just short of 3 months and it's made a huge difference to my life. The house is Housing Association owned, not council but the council provided the grant for everything. All in all, I'm very happy!

mum2one

Parva - we've had the bathroom made into a wetroom, it makes a massive difference, it makes me wonder how I ever got over the bath for a shower! x

Parva

mum2one wrote: »

Parva - we've had the bathroom made into a wetroom, it makes a massive difference, it makes me wonder how I ever got over the bath for a shower! x

I know exactly what you mean, it really has made life so much better. My only moan would be that I no longer have the bath to hold onto to get to the toilet so I now need to balance and plan my route a little better but I can't figure out a better solution to this and can live with this minor inconvenience if I have the full wet room experience.