Step One:
Contact Connect & Direct on 0161 253 5441. They will take all the details and if appropriate pass on to the Disability Services Team, who will contact you for an initial telephone assessment. The assessment is in the form of a discussion asking you about how you manage day to day activities. They may tell you that you qualify for an Assessment of Need at home. There is a waiting list for this, and you will be informed of the likely length of wait.
Disability Services are unable to accept direct referrals.
Step Two: Assessment of Need
If you meet the criteria for an Assessment of Need a visit will be arranged and a member of the team will carry out the assessment in your own home.
Once the Assessment of Need has been carried out, the assessor will make recommendations about any equipment or adaptations which would meet your need.
Depending on the assessment you may be offered one or more of the following ways to help:
Advice only or redirection to another service.
Provision of equipment or a minor adaptation.
Adapting your current home.
Rehousing to an adapted or more adaptable property.
There are two types of adaptations (these lists are not exhaustive).
Minor Adaptation Examples:
Grab rails to aid stability both inside and outside the property.
Half steps to aid those who have difficulty getting over the front door threshold.
Additional stair rails for those who need extra stability getting up the stairs.
Major Adaptation Examples:
A stair lift if you are unable to get upstairs.
Widening doorways to accommodate wheelchairs.
Removing the bath and fitting a level access shower if you are unable to bathe by any other means. Simpler means will always be tried first.
Many major adaptations are subject to a feasibility visit to see if the proposed work is technically feasible, this process takes time.
All major adaptations are subject to agreement, the more complex ones being discussed at the Council’s Major Adaptations Panel which meets every 6 weeks.
If an adaptation has been recommended and agreed by Panel, it is at this point that you will be referred to Six Town Housing to progress. If that recommendation includes an extra bedroom the rent will increase.
Step Three:
You will be contacted by someone from either the minor or major adaptations team.
In the case of Minor Adaptations: You will be contacted by a member of the Repairs Direct Team who will make an appointment to visit at a time convenient to you, to provide and fit the minor adaptation recommended by the assessor. This assessor could be from a Team other than Disability Services (e.g., The Hospital Team; Intermediate Care).
In the case of Major Adaptations: You will be visited by a member of the Repairs Direct New Works Team, at a time convenient to you, who will carry out a site survey and discuss the recommendation with you.
Depending on the work identified, the Site Supervisor will draw up a schedule of work and arrange for contractors to visit. In the case of Complex Works this may involve visits from an architect to draw up plans, and obtain planning permission and building control consent (all of this is necessarily a long process and there is a lengthy waiting list for this type of work).
We can only carry out work that has been recommended by a member of the Disability Services Team.
The New Works team will be your point of contact throughout the installation and will liaise with your assessor if required.
The Site Supervisor will instruct any contractors carrying out work and will supervise the work until it has been completed to everyone’s satisfaction.
You will then be sent a questionnaire to ask you to comment on the adaptations process from beginning to end. It is important that we have this feedback to ensure that we can continually improve our services to meet the needs and aspirations of our customers.