The Challenge
A mother with husband and five children was struggling with arthritis and a long-term history of depression. This made it very difficult to feel safe on the stairs and when moving around the home. Her mental health problems heavily affected her ability to retain information. Two staircases in their home did not have adequate stair rails and this resulted in a fall and she ended up in hospital. The home was also poorly insulated and a leaking from the bath onto the ceiling below had developed.
The Solution
Following the fall on the stairs, the lady got in touch with Care & Repair, who arranged for a Support Worker to visit for a home assessment.
Through our Hazard Repairs service, the Home Plus Team repaired the seal around the bath to prevent more leaking.
Through the Falls Prevention service, another stair rail was fitted and some additional grab rails added to the front door to avoid further injuries.
The Support Worker found that she was overwhelmed with maintaining the home through the build-up of damp. It was found that the central heating was not working downstairs. It was arranged for a heating engineer to improve the heating system so that all areas of the home stayed warm. The cellar and front doors were found to be bringing a lot of draught through. It was arranged for Green Doctors to visit and fit draughtproofing. The smoke alarm was found to be faulty, so a fast-track referral to the fire service was made for replacement alarms.