It’s never easy finding holiday accommodation for a large group – there were 14 of us in total (8 adults and 6 children). It’s even harder when one member of the group is disabled and has a lot of requirements but this cottage managed to tick all the boxes.
The Rings is a specially designed single level property which is completely adaptable depending on how many people will be staying there. We used most of the space available including two kitchen/living spaces which became one when the folding wall was drawn back. There was just one unit blocked off for other people to use independently from our group.
Our family of four had two adjoining bedrooms which meant Quinns could share with his Big Sister, but I was right next door if he needed me. We had our own small kitchen consisting of a sink, hob and fridge so I could prepare Quinns’ feeds and medications without interfering with the main kitchen shenanigans.
Quinns had a profiling (hospital) bed with ceiling track hoists in both his bedroom and his wet room (they also provided a shower chair). Every room had its own wet room and at least another two rooms had ceiling track hoists. There was also a separate unit with washing machine and dryer which I had to use more than once during our stay.
The rural location was idyllic, the owners were incredibly helpful and the entire set up meant I was able to comfortably care for Quinns all week long so we could enjoy many adventures with our friends.
Today is Changing Places Awareness day. Another opportunity to speak about the Changing Places toilets that make our life with Quinns easier. They allow us to get out and about with him and make his life as exciting as possible.
This week I’ve been sharing posts from Changing Places UK about the numbers of Changing Place toilets across the UK. The numbers are shockingly low. There are only 17 in airports, 199 in parks and open spaces and museums, galleries and art centres have 99. Only 123 hospital and medical centres have one out of a total of 1148 and out of the thousands of pubs and restaurants there are 16!
We started raising awareness for these facilities in 2018. For the last 6 years I’ve taken a photo of Quinns and his Big Sister in every one of the facilities we’ve visited. They know the drill!
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It is usually with great excitement we try out a new one because each time we know that the world has opened another little bit for Quinns. Our recent visits have included Waverly Station in Edinburgh, Silverburn Shopping Centre in Glasgow and Tebay Services Northbound.
Only four out of the five hospitals across the UK where Quinns has appointments have one. Luckily, it’s one closer to home that doesn’t but luck shouldn’t really come into it when it comes to toilet facilities.
The journey to and from London for hospital appointments is now easier due to the recent investment in Changing Places in service stations. We have a choice of where to stop along the route.
When we’re not travelling, we have our favourite places to go simply because of the toilet. Quinns loves the cinema and swimming so Macrobert Arts Centre and The Peak are our go to local days out. Quinns was delighted to have his drama group’s short film premiere hosted at the Macrobert Arts Centre where his friends were able to be happy and comfortable.
Someone asked me recently whether there were any new Changing Places facilities in our local area. I was sad to say there have been no new ones since our campaigning began. In our entire local authority area, there are only 3 registered and open to the public (Macrobert Arts Centre, The Peak and Blair Drummond Safari Park). There are also ones in the Community hospital, local College and a resource centre bringing the total to 6.
This Changing Places Awareness Day my Wishlist for potential Changing Places facilities includes the Thistles Centre in Stirling, Stirling Castle, Stirling Train Station, the Wallace Monument and Bridge of Allan (which I’m hopeful is happening albeit very slowly).
What’s on your Changing Places wishlist? If you want to find out more about the campaign or find out what you can do to help you’ll find lots more information on the Changing Places UK website
It is difficult for us to go away from home for any length of time. We have everything we need here, it’s fully accessible and set up exactly how we need it with a specialist profiling ‘hospital’ bed, ceiling track hoist and wet room. We also have a team of wonderful carers who come in and help us provide care for Quinns.
When we went to London for a hospital appointment last month, we had to leave all the home comforts and team behind for nearly a week. After our public transport experiences last time we decided to drive all the way. Huge thanks to Dad for his bravery at driving across Central London!
Thankfully we were given a room in the Ronald McDonald Evelina House the nights before and after our appointment. Arriving to find a parking space in front of the house was a great relief after being on the road for nearly 12 hours. The DBS appointment went well but took the best part of the day, so it was so helpful to have a space to rest before we hit the road again the following day.
Dad managed to arrange a work gig for the Friday so on Thursday we transferred to the Premier Inn hotel at London Archway for the next two nights. I had heard it was the most accessible hotel in London boasting a total of 9 accessible rooms with ceiling track hoists!
We had two rooms booked: one standard and one accessible with a ceiling track hoist. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing we ended up with two accessible rooms, both with hoists. One had a wet room with a shower, the other had a bathroom. (It was brilliant to have both so there was a choice of whether to shower or bath Quinns but a bit of me did feel guilty about having two accessible rooms in case someone else needed one.)
Part of the struggle with being away isn’t just the lack of hoisting but a combination of no hoist, low bed, and no additional helpers. So having one of those issues solved gave my back a bit of a rest at least.
Quinns, Big Sister and I had the Friday free to explore the city while Dad worked. Although the hotel is the most accessible in London the closest tube stations are not. We would have had a 25-minute walk to the nearest step free station, and we weren’t feeling well disposed to taking the bus after last time especially with a team member missing.
Instead, we made the most of our hotel room. With only an accessible shower room at home it was a bonus to be able to get Quinns in the bath. We used the hoist with his shower sling to gently lower him into the water where he relaxed for a good 30-40 minutes. It saved me from building the painstakingly packaged up shower chair that we had brought with us in the WAV.
After our visit I contacted Premier Inn to thank them for having so many rooms with hoists available. I found out that bed raisers would have been available if I’d asked for them and the style of bed they are using is suitable for use with a mobile hoist which is good to know for future.
I also asked them why this one hotel had so many accessible rooms with hoists especially since the nearest tube station wasn’t accessible. Apparently, it was a planning condition from the Council when the hotel was built. So, this hotel has nine and their London Stratford hotel has one. Sadly though Premier Inn has no plans to roll out hoists in any other hotels in their chain.
Before this trip to London, I had never really thought about hoists in hotel rooms but they made a really big difference to our experience. There would be real potential if Premier Inn and other hotel chains were to take this on. Since being on this trip, I have also discovered there are no hoists in hotels in the whole of Scotland!
I would love to know about other people’s experiences of hoists in hotels.
I can’t let World Toilet Day pass without talking about Changing Places toilets. It has been great to hear that the 2000th Changing Place was registered in the past week. It’s a huge achievement but there’s still a long way to go to get Changing Places in all public spaces.
In recent months we’ve travelled to the north of Scotland and to the south of England from our base in Central Scotland. Our WAV (Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle) has given us freedom to roam. Quinns is happy and comfortable remaining in his wheelchair as we drive.
Our routes are always rigorously timed and planned according to stops with a Changing Places toilet available to give him a break. On our first journey north of around 150 miles we planned for one stop to break up our three hour journey. There is a choice of only two Changing Places toilets along the entire route!
We chose the Tiso store in Aviemore, which was slightly over the halfway point. As well as the newly installed Changing Place we were pleasantly surprised to find a cafe in the outdoor/camping shop. The food was so good it tempted us back on our journey south again.
We would have liked to try out the Changing Place in Pitlochry but with limited opening hours it didn’t work with our plans. So for journeys north we will be back to Tiso until there are others for us to try.
Our second journey was the long road back to Quinns’ London hospital. At more than double the distance of our journey north, about 340 miles, we expected it to take us around six hours and need two stops. Thankfully, recently, there has been a large investment of funding for Changing Places toilets in services across England so we had our choice of service station stops with suitable facilities along the route.
In order to meet the standard required most Changing Places look the same, with similar equipment and fittings. On our way south we noted in one of the new service station toilets there were instruction panels for each bit of equipment. This is a really helpful addition as although the equipment is similar it’s not necessarily always the same and we need to work out how to use it.
On the way back we decided not to travel straight home, instead stopping in Leeds to meet friends. We were impressed by the additional details in the Changing Places in the Royal Armouries Museum there. Quinns especially enjoyed seeing the elephant statue on the screen. These small details make a big difference to our experience.
Using Changing Places in service stations meant we didn’t need to track too far off route and add extra time to our journey unless we had a reason to do so. Sadly they are not quite in all service stations yet. On the final leg of our journey we stopped at Tebay North having used Tebay South on the way only to discover there’s no Changing Place in the north one and no access to the south.
We learned important lessons from our journeys north and south including how little choice we have and why route planning is so essential for us. There may be 2000 registered Changing Places across the country now but the campaigning for more must go on.
Quinns, trains & changing places 