As an additional £500+m funding is announced to alleviate bed blocking and expediate hospital discharge, AAT announces a raft of rapid delivery, best value measures to provide support once at home.
Says AAT GB Director Peter Wingrave, “The purpose of this welcome and necessary grant is to rapidly alleviate the bed blocking issue. However, just supplying the money won’t solve the problem. Why can we not change attitudes, and embrace technological advances that deliver fast, effective solutions?
“This would address the major issues highlighted in the Ombudsman’s report(*): that all too often the adaptation process (DFG) is ‘ beset by delay’, and that a ‘well-run adaptation service can not only improve the lives of disabled people but …result in significant savings for local councils’. You might argue that the introduction of stairclimbers into the range of solutions provides that immediacy, best value and independence. It does so without the delay and disruption typical in a home adaptation. It adds value.
“All these benefits can be delivered via the only profession in the UK qualified to do it, namely Occupational Therapists. All it needs is a desire to progress, and embrace technology and solutions that can deliver without delay.”
