With the Government vowing to address the housing shortage, leading mobility innovator AAT is suggesting a way to help some of the 120,000 people with disabilities who need re-housing, and make use of at least some of the 700,000 empty/redundant properties already in existence in the UK. Importantly, the solution can be expediated within days and costs only a few £000.

Stairs- or our ability to use them- is one of the biggest issues facing people with limiting conditions, whether a short- or long-term problem, whether in a flat or house, and one of the main reasons disabled people need to move to accessible housing if their home is structurally unsuitable for an adaptation such as stairlift or through-floor lift.

Where appropriate, provision of a stairclimber could turn existing inaccessible homes into accessible homes.

AAT’s S-Max Sella- Britain’s top-selling stairclimbing wheelchair- is a stand-alone, mobile, battery-operated Class 1 Medical Device certified mobility aid. It can be supplied with an integral seat or fixed to a wheelchair. The S-Max Sella has been designed and engineered with the capability to accommodate almost all staircase designs, even turns or narrow flights.

It does not require structural fixing or alterations. Because it is not fixed to the building fabric, one stairclimber can solve stairway access in townhouses, blocks of flats, or where external egress is impeded by steps. It also does not impede the stairway for other users of the house or block of flats. All it requires is someone who can operate it (whom AAT trains to LOLER standards as part of the service) to safely transfer the limited person up and down stairs, such as the person’s resident carer.

And the cost of providing the kit can be almost negligible. Most local authorities already have at least one as part of their community equipment. Further, the Sella can be re-prescribed to another user when the original recipient no longer needs it, without any of the time, cost nor disruption of ‘making good’ with a permanent fixture.

Says Peter Wingrave, AAT Director, “I appreciate the solution depends on a number of variables. I accept it is not an answer in every case. But surely we should at least consider alternative ways to use already available resources, to address the hardship being faced by so many and avoid further encroachment on green belt?”

Full details of the stairclimber, including how it works video, can be found at https://www.aatgb.com/s-max-sella/

For further information contact AAT on Tel: 01978 821875, Email: sales@aatgb.com or visit: https://www.aatgb.com/