AKW Medi-Care

The St Helens Council’s Private Sector Housing department works hard with tenants and landlords to improve housing conditions in homes across the borough of St Helens, Merseyside.On hearing of the challenges faced by a disabled resident with additional visual impairment challenges, the department worked with AKW, one of the UK’s leading providers of accessibility solutions, to include a new lighting scheme in the accessible bathroom refurbishment, promoting the resident’s safety and independence.As well as ensuring housing standards are upheld, the Private Sector Housing Department also advises landlords on best practice to help accommodate those with specific accessibility requirements. As part of this remit Technical Officer, Ioannis Leontaris was tasked with specifying an accessible bathroom for a private residence, that not only accommodated the resident’s mobility challenges but addressed their visual impairment limitations as well.Following talks with AKW, where the company’s new Task Focused Lighting Kit and ‘occupational therapist advised lighting guide’ were discussed, Ioannis decided to recommend the lighting be used on this particular wet room bathroom refurbishment.“ By combining very narrow beam, highly-focused task lighting and high light level ambient lighting in the same kit, shadows, dark areas and glare inaccessible bathrooms can be eradicated, ensuring safe movement around the space.”Spotlight on lightingTraditionally inaccessible bathroom refurbishment, a standard IP65 LED circular fluorescent fitting is specified with a light switch. Although this is sufficient for many bathroom installations, people with mobility challenges, dementia or visual impairments need more tailored lighting to navigate and use the space easily. That is why the AKW Task Focused Lighting Kit takes accessible lighting to the next level, as it combines both ambient and task-focused lighting to enable the space to be lit to full efficacy, maximising independence.Alongside the replacement of the bath with a wet room, new tiling, flooring and a moveable shower seat, the lighting was installed using the occupational therapist advised AKW lightingguidelines. The inadequate existing lighting was replaced with two long-lasting, bright (1764lm) ambient LED ceiling lights for general illumination. In addition five narrow beam (30°)ceiling LED task lights were installed: three over the shower area and one over both the basin and toilet. Following a request from Ioannis, the lighting was split into three different zones, with each operated by a separate light switch. The first switch controlled the toilet and basin task lights, the second was for the showering area and the third operated the general illumination LEDceiling lights. The reason for the lighting zoning was so that the resident could have options regarding brightness, depending on their reason for visiting the bathroom.Laura Walsh, Sales Business Development Manager at AKW explains further: “Adequate light levels are essential for any bathroom, but even more so when the user has vision andmobility challenges. By combining very narrow beam, highly-focused task lighting and high light level ambient lighting in the same kit, shadows, dark areas and glare inaccessible bathrooms can be eradicated, ensuring safe movement around the space.”Ioannis Leontaris, Technical Officer at St Helens Council’s Private Sector Housing Department, comments: “Our overarching mission is to improve the housing conditions in homesacross the borough of St Helens. My work involves advising landlords and offering specific advice in relation to adaptations. I am pleased to say that this recent wet room refurbishmenthas led to a dramatic improvement in bathroom accessibility for the resident. She is able to choose what level of brightness she wants in the bathroom, dependent on the task that shewants to undertake. The mix of ambient fittings, task-focused lighting and zone switches have been a real success.”For those looking for further guidance on this subject, AKW’s Task Focused Accessible Bathroom Lighting Guide, developed in conjunction with occupational therapists, is available as a free download. To find out more visit: www.akw-ltd.co.uk/lighting

St Philips Care Group is the leading independent care home provider in the UK and is responsible for 32 homes across the country. As part of the company’s continued drive to provide a warm, welcoming atmosphere in its homes, the St Philips estate management team continually undertakes refurbishment programmes across the group. An area of particular focus at present is the updating of 100 en-suite and shared bathroom facilities at four of the group’s sites.Cathedral Care Centre and Roxholm Hall Care Centre in Lincolnshire, Kippen House in the Perthshire Hills and Chestnuts Care Centre in Grimsby cater to a range of nursing and residential needs for those with mental health issues, dementia and other age-related conditions. As a result of the variety of needs across the four sites, the estates team decided to work with AKW, one of the UK’s leading providers of accessibility solutions, to come up with a bathroom upgrade solution that could be rolled out across the group’s facilities. AKW’s team of experts developed a ‘bathroom pack’ of fixtures and fittings that could be installed throughout the estate and looked visually attractive, whilst offering the inclusivity, cost-effectiveness and longevity needed by the St Philips Care Group.Andy King, assistant estates manager for the St Philips Care Group explains: “With our continual refurbishment programme across the estate, we want to deliver the highest quality and functionality, as cost-effectively as possible. Working with the team at AKW, we were able to create a ‘bathroom pack’ of products that we can order for each installation. We have installed 20 of the 100 so far and the products are easy to install, look good and are hard-wearing. Due to the colour contrasts, they are great for our residents with visual impairments and dementia, as well as looking more welcoming than our existing bathrooms. The key is customer satisfaction and our residents and their families have loved the end result.”The AKW bathroom pack for the St Philips Care Group includes a raised height pan and cistern with a dark blue, ergonomic toilet seat and lid, a toilet roll holder and dark blue, hinged arm support rail and grab rails. In addition a monobloc mixer tap has been specified with the sink for ease of use, incorporating a TMV3 valve – a regulatory requirement for all care home applications. To ensure the bathrooms meet a range of end-user requirements, some existing baths are being replaced with wet rooms. In these installations, AKW’s ultra-strong TuffForm wet room formers are being used, as they can accommodate a user with a wheelchair and two carers if required.Nick Kaye and Rachel Eley at AKW were responsible for developing the bathroom pack for St Philips Care Group in conjunction with Andy King and comments: “With the addition of the dark blue grab rails and toilet seats to our range at AKW, we have been able to offer a full bathroom package to St Philips Care Group that is not only hard-working and cost-effective, but looks great. It was a privilege to have the estates team come to us with their refurbishment needs and for us to work together to create a bathroom package that can be replicated throughout the group’s entire estate if needed.”As a result of the close working partnership between the estates team and AKW, the bathroom refurbishments have allowed for more flexible usage and reinforced the St Philips Care Group’s ethos of providing a warm, welcoming atmosphere in its homes.

The Manchester Local Care Organisation is used to looking at community-based care differently and this approach has led to its Equipment and Adaptations Service taking an innovative approach to lighting two accessible bathroom refurbishments.Working with AKW, one of the UK’s leading providers of accessibility solutions, the end results are spaces that not only look good and promote safety, but are lit to maintain independence for many years to come. Following talks with AKW, where the company’s new Task Focused Lighting Kit and ‘occupational therapist advised lighting guide’ were discussed, the team at the Equipment and Adaptations Service decided to introduce the lighting to two of its up and coming bathroom refurbishments. One was for a person with dementia in an owner-occupied property and the other was for a person living with visual impairment in a shared ownership property. However, the issues in each space were the same: accessibility needed to be drastically improved to ensure independence in the home for longer.Taking a closer look at lightingTraditionally, lighting is one of the last things thought of when an accessible bathroom installation is undertaken. A standard IP65 LED Bulkhead fitting tends to be specified and this delivers a good level of ambient light throughout the space. Although this is sufficient for many bathroom installations, people with mobility issues, dementia or visual impairments need more tailored lighting to navigate and use the space easily.With this in mind, the total refurbishment of both bathrooms not only included the replacement of baths with wet rooms, new tiling and flooring and accessibility features such as grab-rails and shower seats, but the lighting was also installed as per AKW’s Task Focused Lighting Guide recommendations. This meant that in each space, the inadequate incandescent lightbulbs were replaced with one long-lasting, bright (1764lm) ambient LED ceiling lights for general illumination. In addition, five narrow beam (30°) ceiling LED task lights were installed: three over the shower area and one over both the basin and toilet.“A mix of ambient and task-focused LED lighting delivers highly energy efficient, shadow free illumination, making it ideal for those with visual impairment issues or those with dementia.”Andrew Wilmot, Regional Sales Manager at AKW explains further: “Good bathroom lighting needs to deliver adequate light levels for the user to perform a variety of tasks around the space. For those with low vision or mobility issues, the avoidance of shadows, dark areas and glare are key to safe movement. A mix of ambient and task-focused LED lighting delivers highly energy efficient, shadow-free illumination, making it ideal for those with visual impairment issues or those with dementia.”John Roberts, Senior Technical Officer at Manchester’s Services for Independent Living, comments: “The overarching mission of The Manchester Local Care Organisation is to make a positive contribution to help people in Manchester live longer and enjoy better health than many do now. These two recent accessible bathroom installations are a great example of the work we do, as they have led to a dramatic improvement in bathroom accessibility for both occupants.“As well as specifying high contrast tiles for both installations, to minimise any confusion when navigating around the space, we specified AKW’s lighting kit. The feedback from both properties relating to the lighting and contrasting tiles and floor covering has been overwhelmingly positive and we are looking to roll out the use of this lighting in further refurbishments.”For those looking for further guidance on this subject, AKW’s Task Focused Accessible Bathroom Lighting Guide, developed in conjunction with occupational therapists, is available as free download. To find out more visit: www.akw-ltd.co.uk/lighting