A revolution in disabled care opens up its doors

May 27 2008 by Richard Down, Liverpool Daily Post

A revolution in disabled care opens up its doors

A ONE-STOP shop that has revolutionised Liverpool’s ability to care for disabled people has officially been opened.

Liverpool Wheelchair Service, one of the scores of services all gathered under one roof at The Lifehouse Centre, on Brunswick Dock, was once one of the worst performing services in the UK.

But since moving into the centre it has become one of the best performing services nationwide, allowing users to get hold of the perfect chair for them on the same day.

Manager Louise Adcock said: “It’s also allowing us to provide better assessments and people also like the fact it is available in a non-hospital environment.

“To them it’s more like a showroom where they can be assessed for a chair, try it to see if they like it and take it away the same day.”

This is just one of the services that Liverpool Primary Care Trust and Liverpool City Council have put together at the centre.

Sir Bert Massie CBE, an Equality and Human Rights commissioner who has used a wheelchair since contracting polio decades ago, said: “In the past, it’s always been about who pays for what service. People are very adept at pushing the budget on to someone else.

“At the Lifehouse centre, we see what’s needed and we simply do it.

“Speed of delivery has had to improve, too.

“This centre is about getting the right equipment to the right people.”

Sir Bert last week opened the centre, which now houses Liverpool Wheelchair Service;

Disabled Living Centre; Minor Adaptations Team; the Falls team; the Moving and Handling service; the Communication Aids Service and the Telecare team is due to move in the next few weeks.

Gideon Ben-Tovim, chair of Liverpool PCT, said: “Lifehouse is revolutionary in terms of provid- ing these facilities and is very much being viewed by other parts of the country as an industry leader.

“This is a unique facility in Liverpool and that it has already made a positive different to the lives of thousands of residents.”

The centre houses two clinics, a training room and display rooms for the Disabled Living Centre, as well a large amount of office space. There is also a high level of warehouse space for adaptations, wheelchairs and a satellite store.

richarddown