Wet rooms provided to help elderly and disabled

South Norfolk council bosses are now providing better help and facilities for the elderly and disabled.

These facilities for example, a wet room, allow people to stay independent in their own home. However the huge demand for these facilities to be provided meant that people were waiting for their disability facilities such as wet rooms, grab rails and shower seats for over 18months.

South Norfolk council has invested an extra £400,000 in to its disabled facilities grants so it could reduce dramatically the wait, which has gone down to 26 weeks from approval to completion to payment. An 81year old pensioner got a huge amount of money to create a wet room in her house. : “I now have a lovely level access shower chair to sit in when I in the shower. They have really made a nice job of it”.

So far South Norfolk Council has assisted 132 schemes, ranging in prices. Fitting a wet room, for example, in someone’s home who has a disability or impairment can make a massive difference to their ability to live independently. A leader from South Norfolk’s Council said, “It's about keeping people in their own homes and helping them to stay independent because that is what they want and it means the cost doesn't fall upon social services. “ A really good example of this is to turn a bathroom into a wet room and installing things such as grab rails or putting in small ramps where the wet room floor is slightly raised.

Wet rooms are very contemporary and they can give the feel of a bigger, open plan room as you don’t have to squeeze in a shower tray they also optimize a smaller bathroom by giving the appearance of more space. Wet rooms are an economical way of upgrading your bathroom.