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Disabled toilet facilities within Trust

Posted By HelenL1

"Disabled toilet facilities within Trust"

About: Northern Health & Social Care Trust

(as a service user),

I would like to highlight the lack of accessible bins in the designated Disabled Toilets .

All toilets in Trust have foot pedal bins with hygienic closing lids with no lip on the lid .

To open these without foot function is impossible - you have to get fingers into crevice of bin .

We are a commmunity with bladder problems and bowel - the use of pads , catheters is our normal. We want to leave the toilet clean and tidy but bins are not accessible and it’s embarrassing and undignified to have to bring a bag to dispose of items on our own rather than in the bin in the accessible toilet .

Please fix this simple problem with accessible bins in all accessible toilets . Thank you service user and wheelchair user .

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Responses

Response from Linda Saunders, Interim Manager, Corporate Services, Causeway, NHSCT 5 months ago
We are preparing to make a change
Linda Saunders
Interim Manager, Corporate Services, Causeway,
NHSCT

I currently manage the Domestic and Catering Teams in Causeway Hospital.

Submitted on 16/06/2025 at 18:06
Published on Care Opinion on 17/06/2025 at 07:45

Good Afternoon HelenL1

My name is Linda Saunders and I am the manager for Corporate Support Services managing Domestic and Catering Services in Causeway Hospital.

I am very sorry to hear about your experience and would like to thank you for highlighting the lack of accessible bins in the designated Disabled Toilets.

All feedback is important to us as it helps to inform future learning for staff and shape reform within the dept.

We had this recently highlighted to The Dept. in The Girona Restaurant in Causeway by a Service User and we have actually put in place a Bin which has a lip on the lid ensuring no foot pedal operation is required. This was done after liaising with the Service user and ensuring their needs were met with the introduction of this prototype.

I would like to reassure you we as a Trust are working towards a permanent solution and have raised the issue with the Procurement and Logistics Services who is the sole provider of professional supplies and purchasing for all public Health and Social Care (HSC) organizations in Northern Ireland.

Procurement have been asked to source and award a contract for a suitable bin as required.

As a Dept we will work towards getting a more suitable bin into the Trust to prevent you experiencing this issue.

Yours Sincerely

Linda Saunders

Catering And Domestic Manager

Causeway Hospital

Coleraine

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by HelenL1 (a service user)

Brilliant. Thank you for being proactive and sorting this issue.

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