Adapting your home

Equipment

It’s easy to make small changes to your home, like adding handrails, which can make it easier for you to move around.

Equipment such as bath seats, commodes and bedrails are easy to borrow, hire or buy and your doctor may be able to provide some items for free.

Our equipment advice website contains information and advice about a whole range of equipment available to help you manage at home.

The Independent Living Centre

You can also contact The Independent Living Centre which offers a free and impartial assessment and information service to anyone looking for equipment to help them to live independently. Qualified NHS occupational therapists can:

assess your needs
help you find the best equipment
show you how the equipment works and help you to try it out
explain how you can get equipment to keep you independent
direct you to other services that might help you
Try “Our Before you Buy” guides which have been written to help you find the right piece of equipment to meet your needs.
If you want to buy equipment online there are several websites you can visit:

Pharmacies

Pharmacies like Lloyds and Boots have an extensive range of equipment and solutions to make life easier in the home. You can also buy from these online from their websites.

Personal alarms and alerts

Personal alarms and alerts give you the reassurance that round the clock support is only the click of a button away in your own home. A care alarm is an alarm that you wear that gives you instant access to help. Alert services are available to remind you to take medication and to attend appointments. These services can provide real peace of mind for you, your friends and relatives.

Personal alarms are provided by many different organisations detailed here in a search on PinPoint. This service will help you to remain safe, secure and independent in your own home, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You can use the alarm to get instant access to help from the service’s call-monitoring centre.

Some providers have additional functionality to monitor certain situations and automatically raise an alarm, including:

bed and chair occupancy sensors
smoke and carbon monoxide detectors
natural gas detectors
heat detectors
extreme temperature sensors
flood detectors
fix alarm buttons
panic alarms (referral from Devon Domestic Abuse Coordination Team)
fall detectors
property exit sensors
epilepsy sensors
medication dispensers
bogus caller button.

Key safes

A key safe is a strong metal box to store a key to the door of your home. It’s installed on an outside wall usually near the front door, but out of sight of passers-by. Most safes have a set of numbered buttons that can be used to enter a code to open the box. You can share this code with anyone you want to allow into your home, like a carer or shopping service.

There are lots of designs of key safes. The police recommend you buy a safe that is Secured by Design (which displays a logo).

For many years, Devon and Cornwall Police has provided a benefit to businesses and individual residents by recording details of their keyholders.

The keyholder information database and service has been successfully running for over 10 years and is staffed by personnel dedicated to inputting and maintaining the confidentiality of your details. In the event of a member of staff not being available to deal immediately with your email we will process it at the earliest opportunity and email you back with your reference number.

To join

To join the scheme email the required information to keyholderservice@devonandcornwall.pnn.police.uk.

Minor adaptations

Minor adaptations and equipment refer to small works or pieces of equipment which can help you to remain independent. This could include equipment such as grab rails, walking frames, trolleys and raised toilet seats. The Millbrook Healthcare website offers an online self-assessment, the outcome of which may suggest equipment and technology options to help you to remain independent.

Before you arrange for somebody to come into your home to do some work you can:

search for them on the Buy with Confidence scheme. This shows traders who have been vetted by Trading Standards. We recommend only using traders on this scheme.
read the information from Age UK about protecting yourself and keeping safe at home at devon.cc/ageukprotectyourself

Major adaptations

These could include a stair lift, wide doorway, adapting bathrooms or kitchens. The work may be funded through a Disabled Facilities Grant administered through your local district council, or provided on the recommendation of an occupational therapist (OT).

The Adapt My Home website allows you to check how well your home supports your needs, and whether you could benefit from some adaptations to help you stay safe and independent.

VAT exemption

If you are registered as disabled, you will be exempt from paying VAT on works done to adapt your home or equipment purchased specifically to meet your disability needs. More information about VAT relief.