Adaptations: making it easier for you to get in and around your home. Be independent at home

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1 Adaptations: making it easier for you to get in and around your home Be independent at home

2 About us Nottingham City Council aims to help you live more independently at home. Working with you and your Occupational Therapist to find out what you need, we will design and arrange adaptations to your home to make it easier for you to get in and around it and use the facilities. Can I get help? We can help you if: you have, or someone living with you has, significant needs at home due to disability or long-term health problems and your Occupational Therapist recommends adaptation works to your home it does not matter whether you are an owner or a tenant we can support you whether you own your own home, are a Nottingham City Homes tenant, a Housing Association tenant, a private tenant or a landlord. Images courtesy of What sort of adaptations can be made to my house? That all depends on what you need as an individual and the type of home you live in. Examples of adaptations include: ramps and paths to help you to get into your house more easily widening the doors in your house to make it easier for you to get about providing a stairlift or vertical lift to help you get upstairs fitting a shower over your bath replacing your bath with a shower area that has a level floor to make access easier moving your bath/toilet etc. into a more suitable position for you improving the layout of your kitchen if you use a wheelchair moving electric switches and controls into more accessible positions flashing-light relays for door bells to help if you are deaf building a shower-room or bedroom extension on the ground floor of your house if it is not possible to make suitable alterations elsewhere. We do not cover repairs and renovations, decoration, or overcrowding issues.

3 Who do I need to speak to so that I can get help? If you think that you would benefit from adaptations you should contact the Occupational Therapy Service see page 5 for contact details - who will assess your needs at home. This assessment is normally carried out within a month. The Occupational Therapy Service can help you in many ways: By providing equipment such as a raised toilet seat or chair raiser; by making minor adaptations like grab rails and stair rails: by recommending you to be re-housed to a more suitable property, or if you wish, referring you to other services. For more details about the Occupational Therapy Service, ask for the leaflet Making everyday tasks easier. What happens next? If the Occupational Therapy Service decides that we need to make adaptations to your home, they will refer your details to us at the Adaptations Agency. After we have received your referral, we will contact you and arrange the adaptation. Minor adaptations We can make simple adaptations quickly without the need for design work and these can often be ordered within 2 to 3 weeks. Major adaptations We need to design most adaptations, so we will work in consultation with you and your Occupational Therapist, to meet your own individual needs. An Adaptations Agency Project Officer will contact you to arrange a visit. This may take several months, depending on the priority and current level of demand. We will keep you informed of how long this process is likely to take. We can provide the following services: help with red tape - for instance, you may need to apply for Building Control approval or a grant or you may qualify for a Disabled Facilities Grant. We can process and approve it for you sketches, plans and list of work, to help you and the builder support to help make sure that you get the best quality work for the best value get prices from approved builders on your behalf and help you to choose which one to use a building contract to protect your interests and get work done on time regular visits whilst the works are underway to supervise on your behalf organising payments to contractors and checking that final accounts are correct. After the Project Officer has visited you, the time taken to complete the works depends on the size and complexity of the scheme. A simple ramp may be installed within a few days, whereas a complex extension will take over 6 months. arrangements for an interpreter

4 How much will this cost? If you are a Nottingham City Homes tenant, adaptations are currently FREE because the Council, as landlord, pays for all the work. If you own your own home or are a private tenant, you may be eligible for a Disabled Facilities Grant to assist you in paying for the adaptations. What is a Disabled Facilities Grant? A Disabled Facilities Grant is a sum of money offered to you, if you are eligible, to cover: improvements to help you to access your home improving access to your living room and bedroom improving access to, or providing a toilet, bath, shower or wash hand basin improving access to your food preparation areas and cooking facilities improving, or providing, heating improving access to your light and power switches help with access around your home to allow you to care for others safety issues. How much is a Disabled Facilities Grant? The amount of grant awarded depends on a means test by which we calculate your share (if any) of the costs. For many people the grant will cover the whole cost. We will help you with your application for a grant, and process it for you. Please note that: adaptations for children are exempt from the means test this grant is limited to a maximum of 25,000 we charge a fee to process your adaptations scheme, but if you are eligible for a Disabled Facilities Grant, the fee can be included in the grant. Get in touch If you would like to find out more about how Nottingham City Council can make it easier for you to get in and around your home, you should first contact an Occupational Therapy Service Advisor, who will discuss your needs with you. Occupational Therapy Service (adults) or or or Minicom occupationaltherapy@nottinghamcity.gov.uk Occupational Therapy Medway Street (off Kennington Road) Radford Nottingham NG8 1PN The telephone numbers and address listed above may change in future. If you experience any problems getting through, please ring Nottingham City Council switchboard on Tel For Occupational Therapy Services for children, contact the Children s Health and Disability Team: or Text Direct childrenshealth.disability@nottinghamcity.gov.uk Children s Health and Disability Team The Denewood Centre Denewood Crescent Bilborough Nottingham NG8 3DH If you would like to know more about the Adaptations Agency, you can contact them directly: or (minicom) adaptations.housing@nottinghamcity.gov.uk Adaptations Agency 77 Radford Boulevard Radford Nottingham NG7 3BQ

5 For your information Alternative Languages Braille Large Print Audio Tape Speaking Website Webcasts/podcasts To order more copies of Adaptations: making it easier for you to get in and around your home or if you require this information in an alternative language, Braille, large print, audio tape or text only version, please call Nottingham City Council Customer Services Team on or You can also download a text-only, large print version of this leaflet from our website at Arabic Bengali Chinese Hindi Polish Punjabi Urdu AS