Equipment

We can help to pay for domiciliary care equipment, depending on your situation, for example:

• Electrically operated profiling/orthopaedic beds
• Electrically operated riser/recliner chairs
• Electrically operated bath lifts
• Stair lifts
• Other equipment such as hoists, speech synthesisers, light-writers and nebulisers

David Holmes

For people with a disability, a computer can be a way of keeping in touch with the world at large. When David Holmes started to lose the use of his hands, he dreaded the isolation that could follow.

Local authorities have a statutory responsibility to provide equipment to help a person with a disability live more independently in their own home. This equipment can be paid for with a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG), awarded by the local authority.

Before we offer to help, we need to know you have applied to your local authority for a DFG. You can show us a letter from your local authority detailing what assistance, if any, they are willing to give. A DFG does not always cover the full cost of the equipment you need. We may be able to help you pay the additional cost.

We can also arrange for an occupational therapist to visit you, unless a report from your local authority's occupational therapist is already available. An occupational therapist's report is needed for an application for a DFG. It also shows us that you need the equipment or, if the report is made at a later date, that the equipment is safe and suitable for you to use.

We also sometimes help financially when there is an excessive delay in getting the equipment you need through your local authority.

Useful information

• Factsheet D - Domiciliary care
• Factsheet E - Attendance Allowance and Carer's Allowance
• Factsheet F - Leaving hospital and continuing care