Call for common standard to improve accessibility for
residents with disabilities
The needs of residents with support needs and
disabilities living in traditional sheltered housing schemes and in
the community are not always being met, according to delegates at a
recent event to tackle the challenges and diversity in supported
housing.
Leading housing professionals from across the
south east attended a seminar organised by ERoSH, the national
consortium of sheltered and retirement housing, and facilities
management provider Ian Williams, to consider best practice in
housing for older and vulnerable people in light of the
Comprehensive Spending Review and new equality
legislation.
A call was made for facilities management
companies to better understand the role of occupational therapists,
to become more aware of the range of solutions available to make
properties accessible and to implement better thinking around the
future use of properties and residents’ changing care needs when
installing and choosing an adaptation or aid.
The availability of Braille printers for
appointment letters, portable hearing loops when operatives visit
homes and a lack of awareness of how painting colours can improve
the quality of life for residents were just some of the subjects
discussed. A list of pledges clients would like repairs providers
to sign-up to will now be produced. This will be shared wider at
the CIH annual conference.
Guest speaker Michael Parsons from the RNIB
spoke about the need for housing providers and facilities
management companies to install appropriate accessibility equipment
and aids, so avoiding the incorrect use of tactile pavement slabs
and handrails. He highlighted the number of UK residents who are
hard of hearing, deaf, blind or suffer from arthritis, and how
simple actions such as not painting handrails, floors, walls the
same colour in a room can make a real difference to how people can
use the space.
The free seminar, held at Amberley Museum and
Heritage Centre, near Arundel, West Sussex, also gave practical
tips on cutting down maintenance costs.
Jo McTavish, chair of ERoSH, said: “We wanted
to provide those working with older people the opportunity to see
and share best practice examples and evidence of how to deliver a
better service, efficiency savings and improved outcomes to meet
the needs of regulators, whilst also giving their suppliers
information on how to deliver more appropriate services.
“There are a number of future challenges in achieving best
value, including in procurement, and as a sector we really need to
step up to the mark to ensure some of the most vulnerable residents
in society don’t suffer. Our role is to help their needs be heard,
and by working together we can ensure that is the case.”
Mike Turner, development director at Ian Williams, said: “Since
increasing our work within this type of accommodation, we saw that
guidance on best practice for maintenance in sheltered and
supported housing is limited. The intention of this session was to
gather ideas from key professionals on how we can improve our
service to customers, and identify long-term solutions we can
implement when addressing a customer’s need.
“We’ve gone away with some key action points, such as the
benefits of portable hearing loops, the use of colour to improve
accessibility and how we can work with occupational therapists –
perhaps considering employing one ourselves - to sure the work we
do best matches a customers current and future need.
“In return for their views, we offered a chance for delegates to
hear advice on how they can achieve better value for money when
procuring maintenance work and gain insight into best practice
we’ve identified when working with older people. We also provided
delegates with copies of our new diversity handbook.”
For your copy of the presentation, please contact us