Health and Social Care

Customer Care

• A person's wheelchair is often an extension of their person, and as important and personal to them as their shoes or car. Do not touch it, lean on it, or move it without asking permission, even if they are not using it at the time.
  
  
• Do not assume that someone who is using a wheelchair will want you to push them – ask them if they need any help, particularly if there are obstacles in the environment.
  
  
• To ensure the health and safety of everyone involved, staff should be trained to follow correct procedures when assisting wheelchair users. This should cover all aspects of assistance, including lifting, moving and transferring. Remember everyone is different – the best person to ask about helping with a wheelchair is the user themselves.
  
  
• If you are talking for more than a few moments to someone in a wheelchair, try to position yourself so that you are at the same level or at least ask the person if they would like you to sit down.
  
  
• If there is a high desk or counter, move to the front.
  
  
• Do not tidy away someone's crutches when they sit down.
  
  
• If you know it is not easy to move around your building in a wheelchair offer to help. Heavy doors or deep-pile carpets are just some of the hazards to watch for. Do not assume that ramps solve everything – they may be too steep or too slippery.
  
  
• Talk directly to a disabled person rather than through a companion.

Meeting People with a Facial Disfigurement

Some people are born with a disfigurement and others acquire it through an accident or illness. Disfigurement is “only skin-deep”. Like any disability, it does not mean the person is any different and certainly does not affect his or her intelligence. Most of the difficulties, indeed discrimination, people with facial disfigurement experience, stem from other people's behaviour.

• If you are surprised by someone's appearance, or feel uncomfortable, try not to show it.
  
  
• Make eye contact, as you would with anyone else; try not to stare.
  
  
• Listen carefully, and do not let the person's appearance distract you.
  
  
• Never ask,“what happened to you?” restrain your curiosity.

Overcoming Barriers

• If a disabled person makes an appointment don't automatically assume that they would prefer a home visit. If the surgery (or other premises) are accessible, it may be easier for them to come to the practice or facility.
  
  
• When referring a disabled patient to another service, with their permission, make the service aware of the disability. While they may be referred for something that is unrelated to their disability, the service should be aware of the needs they might have as a disabled client, and be prepared to respond appropriately.
  
  
• A disabled person may depend on the punctuality of routine home visits by Community Health and Social Services staff in order to maintain a normal routine. For example, a delayed visit by a district nurse to carry out essential daily care would mean that the disabled person is late for work or misses transport to the day centre.
  
  
• It may be necessary to arrange to have a parking space close to the building made available to the person with a mobility difficulty.

Both the person and appropriate company personnel should receive notification of this arrangement.

• If there is a ramped or step-free entrance available, inform the person. If neither is available the person should be asked if additional help is required.
  
  
• Corridors and doorways to the designated room should be of sufficient width to enable the person to gain access.
  
  
• Suitable accessible toilet facilities must also be available.
  
  
• It would be best if the designated room was sited on the ground floor.
  
  
• The designated room should be fully accessible and have sufficient circulation space to allow the person to manoeuvre independently while in the room
  
  
• Only a small percentage of people with a mobility difficulty are wheelchair users, others may use crutches, sticks or callipers. The floor surfaces should therefore be non-slip and loose mats should be removed