It’s “all cisterns go” for disability equality in Nottingham

Summary

Nottingham City Council has now opened three Changing Places toilets in the city. Changing Places toilets are designed to support people with profound disabilities and their carers. They have a hoist, changing bench and plenty of space.

Right: Changing Places toilet used by the council 

Key learnings for other councils

• To improve the quality of life of severely disabled residents and supporting their carers.
• To take positive action to tackle inequality and improve access for disabled service users.
• To highlight the economic benefit to councils when families are able to take advantage of leisure activities offered within towns and cities.
• To use the Disability Equality Duty to improve services.

Background to the issue

Many people with profound and multiple disabilities could only access Nottingham City Centre for short periods of time, due to their personal care needs. In some cases parents are forced to change the incontinence pad of a profoundly disabled son or daughter on the floor of a standard disabled toilet. This is a national issue as more people with profound disabilities are living longer due to advances in healthcare and medical science.

The Valuing People agenda is about inclusion and accessing the community. By creating a project team taken from across the council, Nottingham City Council was able to design a new type of fully accessible toilet. The team presented the case and design to the Executive Board members and senior officers with the support of family carers. The target was to include the Changing Places toilet in future planning for toilet provision in the city centre.

By using this opportunity and seeking the support of carers and the Learning Disability Partnership Board, the council agreed to install the new design facility. This was even though there was no legal requirement to do so and their was no precedent in local authority public toilets.

The council was invited by the Department of Health (DH) Valuing People team to work in partnership with voluntary sector organisations. These included Mencap and the Promoting a More Inclusive Society (PAMIS) (Scotland), the Centre of Accessible Environments and the Valuing People team. These partners now form the national Changing Places Consortium, which is working to develop these facilities across the UK.

PAMIS (Scotland) – for more information on the PAMIS website

There are now 63 Changing Places toilets, some in local authority public toilets and leisure facilities. In addition, they are located in major public venues such as the Trafford Centre, Manchester; the Tate Modern; Metro Centre, Newcastle; Bluewater Shopping Centre, Kent; Scottish Parliament and so forth.

Changing Places – for more information on the Changing Places website

Who was involved?

Nottingham's team included:

• the learning disabilities day services modernisation manager
• the corporate access manager
• Neighbourhood services
• the development manager – adaptations
• occupational therapists
• healthcare trust physiotherapists
• the Carers' Forum and partnership board
• elected members for equality from Nottingham City Council.

The problems and how we tackled

Initially, a team of people who had not previously worked together was established from departments throughout the city council. The team created a design, the layout of which was then piloted with users, carers and staff. The team worked very hard with senior managers and elected members to sell the benefits of the project to the council. It was important to highlight that the council was using the Disability Equality Duty to improve service delivery, and this would impact positively on subsequent performance management and inspection regimes.

The barriers to success were mainly around overcoming negative perceptions of the project, such as:

• why the project was resourced when the council has no legal obligation to deliver?
• possible health and safety risks related to putting a hoist in a public toilet?
• generally getting people to understand the project and actively support it.
• encouraging stakeholders to see the project as a dignity and equality issue.

The benefits

The benefits for Nottingham City Council have been:

• the project team were 2006 winners of Community Care Award – Carers Category
• winning the 2006 British Toilet Association Award for the Changing Places toilet
• finalist in Council Worker of the Year
• winning 'The Guardian' Public Servant of the Year 2007 award.

The benefits to residents of and visitors to Nottingham have been considerable.

The Foden family live several miles away from Nottingham and they emailed to say:  

“We used the Changing Places toilet in Nottingham on Saturday and it was brilliant! Our daughter Lowri was very comfortable when we used the changing bench and the whole place was spotless. I was able to take Elin and Lowri shopping for school clothes in the morning, have lunch and then go straight on to the theatre, just like anyone else would have done."

Nationally, as a direct result of the work by the Changing Places Consortium, the British Standard governing toilets (BS8300) is being revised. It will include Changing Places toilets when it is published in 2009. The Department for Communities and Local Government has also included Changing Places toilets in its strategic guide to public toilets, published last year. And the Olympic Delivery Authority has just confirmed Changing Places toilets will now be in the design for the Olympic Park.

What could we have done better?

• The new Changing Places design and layout being accepted for inclusion in the initial planning stage would have helped, as designs that were already at an advanced stage had to be adapted.
• The design had to be governed by the space available in the overall scheme and compromises, such as two left hand turns rather than the preferred direct run, were made – which affected issues like direct access to the area.

What’s happening next?

Flushed with success, Nottingham City Council continues to develop its own Changing Places toilets. More have been included in future plans for Nottingham Station, another leisure centre and a joint Health and Social care 'one-stop centre' in the city. The council, as part of the consortium, continues to provide advice and guidance to many local authorities and public bodies throughout the UK.

Contact

Martin Jackaman
Project Manager – Day Service Modernisation
Learning Disabilities
Nottingham City Council
telephone: 0115 9151077
email: martin.jackaman@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

Published March 2009.