Multi Purpose Height Adjustable Mobile Bathing Bench

The unique Shower Bath Trolley is height adjustable, fully mobile and can function as a shower stretcher, shallow bath, or treatment table. 

The rim of the shower trolley can be raised and lowered electrically to make showering comfortable and convenient. With the rim in the highest position, it serves as a shallow bathtub.

The bath can be lowered to enable PAT slide transfers of patients from a bed or trolley and the warm feeling bath liner is soft to the touch and easy to clean.

For more details on the Shower Bath Trolley or to arrange a demonstration please call Dolphin Lifts on 01276 856060 or send an email to info@dolphinlifts.co.uk requesting more information. Other nursing benches can also be found on our website.

ArjoHuntleigh Autolift Bath Lift Replacement

With Arjo ceasing production of the Autolift Bath Lift many people may be looking for a replacement or alternative hoist for access to their baths.

The Mermaid Bathing Hoist supplied by Dolphin Mobility may well be the product that you're looking for. The lift can be fixed at the side or end of the bath and works in a very similar way to the Arjo autolift.

The Mermaid is available in both manual and electric versions and can be used with a fixed seat option or the Ranger transporter chair.

For more information, including prices and installation guides visit the Dolphin Mobility Hoists website or call Dolphin on 0800 9800 126.

Fixed Height Economy Shower Chair

Dimensions:
Seat height: 508mm (20"). Seat width: 560mm (22"). Footprint: 508 x 570mm (20 x 221/2"). Weight: 6.8kg (15lbs).

Weight Limit: 165kg (26st)



Current retail price is £62.60 plus VAT and delivery. For more information please call Dolphin on 0800 9800 126.

Height Adjustable Economy Mobile Shower Chair

Economy Shower Chairs - These great value shower chairs feature plastic coated tubular steel frames with integral arm supports. Durable and comfortable plastic moulded seats, with drainage holes. Supplied in static and castor finished options. Static chairs are fitted with ferrules for maximum stability and safety. The mobile shower chairs have 4 braked castors for maximum safety. The seat can be easily clipped off the frame for cleaning.


Dimensions:
Seat height: 483-660mm (19-26"). Seat width: 560mm (22"). Footprint: 508 x 570mm (20 x 221/2"). Weight: 9kg (20lbs).

Weight Limit: 165kg (26st)

Current price is £116.50 plus VAT and delivery. Please call Dolphin on 0800 9800 126 for more details.

Height Adjustable Economy Shower Chair

Economy Shower Chairs - These great value shower chairs feature plastic coated tubular steel frames with integral arm supports. Durable and comfortable plastic moulded seats, with drainage holes. Supplied in static and castor finished options. Static chairs are fitted with ferrules for maximum stability and safety. The mobile shower chairs have 4 braked castors for maximum safety. The seat can be easily clipped off the frame for cleaning.


Dimensions:
Seat height: 483-660mm (19-26"). Seat width: 560mm (22"). Footprint: 508 x 570mm (20 x 221/2"). Weight: 7.8kg (17lbs).

Weight Limit: 165kg (26st)

Current price is £70 plus VAT and delivery. Please call 0800 9800 126 for more details.

Fixed Height Economy Mobile Shower Chair

Economy Shower Chairs - These great value shower chairs feature plastic coated tubular steel frames with integral arm supports. Durable and comfortable plastic moulded seats, with drainage holes. Supplied in static and castor finished options. Static chairs are fitted with ferrules for maximum stability and safety. The mobile shower chairs have 4 braked castors for maximum safety. The seat can be easily clipped off the frame for cleaning.

Dimensions:
Seat height: 508mm (20"). Seat width: 560mm (22"). Footprint: 508 x 570mm (20 x 221/2"). Weight: 8.8kg (19lbs).

Weight Limit: 165kg (26st)

Current retail price is £99.99 plus VAT and delivery. For more information please call Dolphin on 0800 9800 126.

Mobile shower / commode chair

This high quality and lightweight attendant controlled multi purpose mobile shower commode chair is made from aluminium with a white painted finish.

Features include: 4 braked castor 5" wheels for easy manoeuvrability, detachable height adjustable footrests, comfortable polyurethane seat, with insert for easier cleansing access, polyurethane backrest and armrests for comfort and safety, lift up arms for side transfers and cleansing access, and large capacity potty with lid. Use as a shower chair, transport chair, commode or over the toilet.


Dimensions:
Seat height: 508mm (20"). Seat to arm rest height: 97mm (3.8"). Overall width: 585mm (23". Width between arms: 495mm (19"). Overall depth: 553mm (21"). Minor assembly required.

Weight Limit: 136kg (21st)

Current retail price is £334.78 plus VAT and delivery. For more information please call Dolphin on 0800 9800 126.

Pensioners warned of scam

This article appeared on http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk

VULNERABLE residents are being targeted by a rogue company offering mobility aids.

Elderly people have paid out thousands of pounds after being cold-called by an organisation claiming to be linked to social and health services in Stoke-on-Trent.

Representatives are even taking pensioners directly to the bank as they look to make a sale.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council's Trading Standards department has been receiving up to three complaints a day about the company and its "aggressive" sales practices since becoming aware of the problem two weeks ago.

And it has now teamed up with Staffordshire Police and NHS North Staffordshire to warn residents they could be paying over the odds for unnecessary products.

An investigation has now been launched into the company – which has not been named at this stage by the authorities – and its practices.

Trading Standards advice manager Val Edmonds said: "We think they are moving about, but they are targeting Stoke-on-Trent at the moment."

It is believed the firm, which is not local, moves from area to area, having obtained phone contact details for vulnerable people. Last week, calls were concentrated around Bucknall, but the problem has now spread city-wide.

After phone contact is made, the caller asks questions about benefits received, if the person is living alone and sometimes claims to be acting for Social Services. Residents are then being offered a mobility assessment and a sales visit is arranged.

During that appointment, an attempt is made sell expensive and unnecessary mobility products, including stair and bath lifts.

Ms Edmonds advised people never to give out personal information over the phone and said the proper authorities will always arrange a meeting.

She added: "If a contract is signed at home, the customer has seven days in which to change their mind and have their deposit refunded. But one person was told they must not cancel or the salesman would get into trouble. People are also being given the offer of going to the bank."

Derek Pamment, associate direct of operations at NHS North Staffordshire, urged residents not to agree to any visits from these companies.

He added: "NHS staff will always show their identification badge before entering a person's home and are happy to have their identity verified."

A Staffordshire Police spokesman said the force had received a number of calls about the company.

He said: "We are working with Trading Standards officers and urge anyone who is contacted by a company offering mobility products – even if they have made an appointment – not to allow them in.

"Residents should seek support from family or neighbours and, as always when anyone calls unexpectedly, keep the chain on. If you still need help, call the police immediately."

If you have recently received a similar phone call or visit from a mobility company, you can call Stoke-on-Trent Trading Standards on (01782) 232065 or Staffordshire County Council Trading Standards on 07773 792252. Staffordshire Police's non-emergency contact number is 0300 123 4455.

Oxford Mermaid - Bath Hoist

The Mermaid hoist is a fixed bath side hoist that enables patients to safely transfer in and out of the bath. The Mermaid is available in both electric and mechanical versions and can be used in either a fixed seat version or with the Ranger transporter system.

Mermaid with Ranger Chair

Available as either an electric or mechanical version, it can be mounted onto a wooden or concrete floor with the fixings provided.

Mermaid Fixed Seat

The Mermaid can be fitted in two positions relative to the bath. The most common is the side fit, where the mast is fitted at the side of the bath and the end fit is where the mast is fitted to the centre line of the bath at one end.

The seat has a locking system that allows safe transfer and when the chair is unlocked it will rotate 360 degrees.

Bathing Made Easy by DLF

The Disabled Living Foundation (DLF) is a national charity that provides impartial advice and information about products for older and disabled people. For over 35 years they have compiled and maintained the UK's only comprehensive, impartial database of products for older and disabled people.

Until recently the DLF's database has only been available on subscription to healthcare professionals. Now the DLF has made one section of the database available free of charge for public use - 'Bathing made easy'. Containing detailed, impartial information on over 1,400 personal care items, this online search and comparison website aims to include all products available in the UK. All information has been checked by the DLF’s team of therapists and includes a description, a price guide, dimensions, images and a list of national suppliers.

Dolphin Mobility are proud to support Bathing Made Easy.

Are they ripping us off?

Another excellent article from the Disability Now archive. I hear similar stories every day.

Some equipment companies are putting people under extreme pressure to buy, says Rod Hermeston.

Patricia Chubb, 67, has spent the entire amount of an insurance policy she had hoped to use for a holiday on a bathlift she says she cannot use.

A salesman from Nationwide Mobility sold her a Safety Bathe at a special price of £1,295, a £200 reduction which he said was only available that day, she claims.

While she was never able to try out the device in her bath, she claims the salesman said it would be fine after looking at the way she got into the bath.

When the lift arrived she tried to use it but says she realised that it was unsuitable for her. "It kept swinging me to one side. It was unbelievably painful for two or three days afterwards."
But the company told her there was nothing wrong with the lift, she claims.

An occupational therapist (OT) from Bristol social services has since said that the device is inappropriate because of the movements involved in using it.

The company has now offered Ms Chubb an Aquatec Fortuna bathlift instead, worth £895 the company told her. But it sells for around £450 elsewhere. Ms Chubb says she would like her money back.

Jane Madden of Oxford and Josephine Fanning of Didcot also complained to DN about the company. Ms Fanning accuses it of a hard sell which led her to buy a bathing device she feels unable to use. Ms Madden says a salesman tried to persuade her to pay around £400 more than the Aquatec Fortuna cost from another company.

Nationwide Mobility has failed to answer questions from DN despite being contacted on numerous occasions. In a statement it said that if anybody experienced problems with the company's agents or products "we would ask that they contact us directly so we can give the matter our early attention."

This response angered Ms Chubb, who claims she contacted them five times but only made headway when she got the local trading standards department involved.

The British Healthcare Trades Association (BHTA) has a complaints and conciliation scheme and can expel its members. Nationwide Mobility is not a BHTA member.

Unfortunately, experiences like these are not uncommon with other companies selling disability equipment such as scooters, bathlifts and stairlifts through ads in the national press, says Nick Pelling, director of the Disabled Living Foundation (DLF).

Salesmen often work on commission and saying that things are on special offer for one day is a classic tactic, he says. The DLF has received calls from people saying salesmen have even driven them to the bank to withdraw a deposit or encouraged them to lie about their age to get a bank loan.

Maggie Winchcombe, director of the Disabled Living Centres Council (DLCC), is worried about products being sold to people inappropriately.

"The group at risk of making expensive mistakes are those for whom dealing with an impairment is a new experience," she says. They only know about products through ads in the press.

It is important for this group to get impartial information. OTs in disabled living centres can offer that advice, she says.

It may be tempting to grab that "special offer", but Ms Winchcombe warns: "Don't make any commitment or sign anything until you have had time to consider."

There are good reasons for this because if you invite a salesman round, t here is no cooling-off period if you change your mind.

If you pay with a credit card there is a cooling-off period.

Under the Sale of Goods Act, a product must be fit for the purpose for which it is sold, so if a salesman misleads a consumer about what a product can do, the buyer is entitled to a refund.
But you do have to let the firm know that there is a problem within a reasonable time. And if the firm refuses to pay up, you might have to prove that you were misled by them in court, and this is not easy.

You should contact your local council and ask for the trading standards department or you could go to a Citizens Advice Bureau or solicitor.

At the moment there is limited regulation. BHTA has a code of practice and companies adhering to it should bring in an OT if they are uncertain how appropriate a product is.
Things may be set to improve in the sector.

The DLF, DLCC and BHTA are in the early stages of negotiations to set up a new code of practice for all direct selling of disability equipment.

This could involve a quality standards mark which those signing up to the code would carry on their ads. And a body could be set up to deal with complaints.

BHTA director Ray Hodgkinson says: "We hope people will join it to give public confidence. And companies not within it may not get business."

He hopes the Government will back the system.

Meanwhile, it is essential for people to seek unbiased information. The DLF can advise on equipment and suppliers.

The DLCC can give details of your nearest disabled living centre where you can try out equipment and get free advice.

It is a minefield, but with care you can avoid getting blown up.
Pressurised into handing money over:

In February 2000 Josephine Fanning, 76, of Didcot, had a Bath Bubble bathing aid demonstrated by a Nationwide Mobility rep. Ms Fanning, who has arthritis, claims when she asked for time to think the salesman got cross, saying he wouldn't come back to the area to waste his time. She says she bought the device for £595 because she felt under pressure. But she found the buttons hard to press and, on one occasion when she used it, she slipped off it.
Her son George Fanning was furious when he found out in August. He contacted Nationwide Mobility in September but claims they ignored his calls until he threatened to go to the press and his local MP in January this year.

The company has offered another product, but he has insisted it is tried out in the presence of an OT.

DLF helpline, tel: 0845 130 9177.
DLCC, tel: 0161 834 1044.
BHTA, tel: 01732 458868.
www.tradingstandards.gov.uk.

E-mail your experiences to DN: editor@disabilitynow.org.uk.

New Aquatec Orca Bath Lift

The new Aquatec Orca is a high quality, ergonomic bathing solution that combines improved comfort and safety features with convenient handling. Key features include:

• Battery in lightweight hand control - Safe and convenient re-charging
• Removable covers - Hygienic care
• Lightweight component parts - Improved handling
• Lock free back rest - Easy to dismantle
• Stable robust construction - Hard wearing and straightforward to maintain
• User weight limit 135 kg (21 stone)

Further information and images to follow.