JUNE 2010 - TOTAL APPROACH TO PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST
The challenge of optimising available Government funding to fulfil demands in giving greater choice control and self-determination for users of health and social services is being simplified through developments at Total Hygiene Ltd.
Findings by various Government reports, including 'Putting People First' and 'Better Outcomes, Lower Costs' maintain significant savings can be made which achieve better outcomes for the same expenditure, by accelerating the delivery process and undertaking even basic home adaptations such as fitting of grab rails or automatic (wash and dry) toilets. Total Hygiene's unique 'total bathroom package' gives social care teams a simple, single-source solution to making available funding so as far as possible.
The package comprises a range of elements which can be utilised on a 'pick and mix' basis, from consultation and advice on equipment required through design to installation and commissioning of toileting and bathing aids from grab rails through lifting aids and supports to fully height-adjustable, automatic 'wash and dry' toilets.
Robin Tuffley, Total Hygiene Marketing Manager, elaborates, "To cite the 'Putting People First' report, people fall whilst waiting for adaptations. The average cost to the state of a fractured hip is £28,665- 4.7 times the average cost of a major housing adaptation, and 100 times the cost of fitting hand and grab rails to prevent falls. Similarly, the Better Outcomes Lower Costs report maintains for the same money as having a carer come in every day to lift a disabled person on and off a commode, that person could have an automatic toilet which they can use whenever they please, and which gives them more autonomy and dignity. It continues to state that 'there is substantial evidence that for the average older applicant, an adaptation package will pay for itself within the life expectancy of the person concerned and will produce better value for money in terms of improved outcomes for the applicant.
"We would add that providers need to be sure that the adaptation package is best suited to the applicant's needs, and has the potential and flexibility to be effectively altered as those needs change. It is logical to take advantage of experience in the provision of toileting and bathing aids for the elderly and disabled, to optimise 'value engineering' in the adaptation."
Total Hygiene has over 30 years' expertise in developing, supplying and maintaining toileting aids; its Clos-o-Mat wash and dry toilet is the most successful unit of its type, the biggest selling, and the only one with WRAS approval enabling legal connection to the mains water supply. Today, some 40,000 Clos-o-Mats are installed in the UK, some of which have been in regular use since they were first fitted 30 years ago! The company's extensive range of options, from grab rails to height adjustable Clos-o-Mats enables a bathroom or washroom adaptation to be selected and installed, from one source.
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