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Govt does away with 'waiting list' for bath to shower conversions
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Many old people living in Government properties are happier to have a shower rather than a bath in their homes. When it came into power, the new Government inherited a waiting list of 44 elderly persons who wanted a ‘bath to shower’ conversion: indeed, there were people on the list who had been waiting since 2009.
The Government is now pleased to confirm that, in the last seven months, all 44 outstanding requests have now been completed and, as a result, the quality of the residents’ lives has improved markedly.
This problem had come to light immediately when the present Government came into office. An elderly lady reported that she had been waiting for over two years for the improvement to be made to her flat and it was only when the new Government made further enquiries that the scale of the problem became obvious. An immediate decision was taken to provide showers to those who had requested them and, where necessary, to improve access by removing steps, adding hand rails, etc.
The Occupational Therapy Department provided advice as to the precise requirements of each resident so that the improvements could be custom-made to each individual.
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‘As soon as we came into office we decided to clear this backlog of requests,’ said Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Joseph Garcia. ‘Sadly, some of the early requests had come from old people who died whilst still waiting for the conversions to be carried out. The total cost of these works has been in the region of £300,000 but we consider it to be money very well spent.’
31-07-12
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