Closomat, Britain’s leading provider of helpful toilet solutions for those with limitations, is suggesting more public toilets should include more space, a hoist and adult-sized changing bench.
This will deliver best value in regards to space management, cost and customer service.
Closomat away from home project manager, Kelvin Grimes, commented: “Even a unisex wheelchair-accessible toilet is a compromise.”
“Many wheelchair users require a carer to help them, with many needing lifting and are too big for their carer to lift unaided.
“Figures suggest at least half a million adults have faecal incontinence, a proportion of which will require pads, nappies, changing.”
He says a unisex wheelchair accessible toilet takes no extra space, yet opens the doors to vast numbers of people who would ordinarily stay away if they needed the toilet.
He also said whilst the changing bench does require more space, its requirement is significantly less than providing all the individual toilet permutations.
“From experience, many unisex wheelchair-accessible toilets that are provided as the only ‘public’ WC, often have the additional space inside anyway, so for those, it is just a case of a little more kit, that makes the facility useable by many more people, who will potentially visit with their carers, families,” Kelvin added.
