Leading mobility provider AAT GB is taking steps to help meet the Government’s new strategy to transform social care with support to keep people out of hospital and in their homes - and giving added value in the process.

Help with stairs and steps is among the top three most common adaptations people need to their home. AAT’s innovative S-Max Sella stairclimbing wheelchair (stairclimber) is unique in that, unlike the conventional alternatives, it can address BOTH internal stairs and external steps.

Thus, only ONE piece of equipment needs to be prescribed to enable someone to access all levels of the home- inside AND out. Its flexibility means it can be used for either or both scenarios.

Further, unlike the alternative conventional solutions, when the original recipient no longer needs the Sella, it has the added advantage that it can be re-cycled/re-issued to another.

Enhancing that element, AAT has put in place a specific service for social care providers, whereby it can manage the whole process for them- assessment of the potential recipient and their home environment to validate the suitability of the equipment, training of the recipient’s carer, plus stock-holding, servicing and commissioning of the equipment between each prescription. The package works out at less than £650/yea (3) over the 15 years’ average lifespan of the Sella helping numerous people in need of stair and step support in the process.

'The Government’s package of support as part of its Plan for Change acknowledges the two-edged sword of the need to take preventative steps that help people remain in their homes, out of hospital and that we have an ageing society,' says Peter Wingrave, AAST Director.

'Our package of support provides a best value option to address one of the most common changes required to a home- that of the stairs and steps. There may be extra Government funding in the pot, but it makes sense to optimise the value of every pound. That way, more people can be helped to stay in their own homes.'

Full details of the S-Max Sella and package for social care providers can be found on AAT’s website: https://www.aatgb.com/ots/.