Fidget/activity boards

19th July 2022

Client has advanced dementia and requires something to keep his fidgety hands occupied.

Pan holder for one-handed cooking

18th July 2022

After a stroke, the client was unable to hold pans steady on the stove while cooking. The usual pan holders use plastic suckers to grip the stove top but these would not work on the hot surface his Aga.

Child’s crawling track

6th June 2022

The client wishes to develop her daughter’s limited physical abilities by encouraging her to crawl.

One-handed nail filing and varnishing

6th June 2022

After a stroke affecting her ability to use one hand, the client struggled to file her fingernails and varnish them.

Garden ramp with adjustable feet

3rd April 2022

The client needed wheelchair access to his garden where commercial ramps were unsuitable.

Arm supports

27th December 2021

A client with MND requires supports to hold his arms up when sitting to alleviate back pain, especially when away from home visiting friends, so it needs to be transportable and suitable for use with any dining chair.

Reduce height of 3-wheeled walker

18th October 2021

The client found that the height of her 3-wheeled walker could not be adjusted low enough for her.  Often, this can be easilly achieved by drilling extra adjustment holes and/or cutting the frame a bit lower, but this would not have given enough reduction in this case.

One-handed Window Opener

13th October 2021

The client is a lady who has substantially lost the use of her left arm as a result of a stroke.  She is fairly short and is unable to reach over the sink to open her kitchen window.  A previous attempt to solve the problem using the usual type of Remap window opener had failed as, with only one hand, she was unable to support the weight or to apply the twisting force required to turn the window catch.  The challenge was to produce a window opener but with the additional constraints that it had to be light weight and easy to operate with one hand.

Sit-to-stand sling modification

22nd September 2021

The client uses a MiniLift sit-to-stand aid for transfers but the sling is unsuitable. The Oxford Journey aid has a more suitable sling, but the aid itself is too large to maneuver inside the client’s home and its sling uses a 4-point fixing, and so could not be used on the MiniLift, which has a 2-point attachment

Wheelchair joystick knob

26th August 2021

The client’s arthritis makes it painful to grasp the small knob on her wheelchair joystick.

Special toilet seat

3rd June 2021

A bariatric client with motor neuron disease wishes to self-insert suppositories and enemas while seated over the toilet. This required the means to roll sideways to expose the anus and an enlarged opening to provide access.

Drag brakes for rollator

25th April 2021

The wheels of the client’s existing rollator slip on a steep hill with a camber, meaning she sometimes has to cling to a signpost and wait for a passer-by to help her.  She did not have the strength to apply the brakes for extended periods going downhill.

Arm support

23rd April 2021

Client has Congenital Myasthenic Syndrome and her weak arms cause difficulty with lifting them above waist height, so has trouble with doing makeup, hair-drying, hair straightening, etc. She had tried resting arms on, for example, a dressing table but they still have a mind of the own and drift outwards.

Step for dining chair

18th April 2021

The client requires a step to encourage correct posture when sitting in a dining chair, which will not move out of place but can be removed when required.

Wheelchair comfy footrest

18th November 2020

The client finds the hard plastic footrests of her Triton 2 specialist chair too hard for her bare feet and she is not keen to wear shoes. 

Bracket for hydration bottle mouthpiece

18th November 2020

A client with MS is unable to reach the mouthpiece of her hydration bottle without assistance.

Bed rail for profiling bed

18th November 2020

Standard bed rails will not fit a profiling bed without interfering with the bed mechanism or rely on being clamped in position by the weight of the mattress on the bed frame, which is not usually sufficient.

Personal location tracker

12th November 2020

A 16 year old with Down Syndrome and autism is unsafe out and about on his own and needs 24 hour supervision. He has a tendency to suddenly decide he needs to go out of the house on his own. To promote independence and safety in case of a fire, he needs to have access to house keys.   The usual locators are unsuitable because he cannot be relied on to take one with him.

Bed side rails

18th August 2020

A client with Down’s Syndrome and dementia had standard ¾ length bed rails attached to his bed.  He has recently started getting up in the night which involves him in scooting down the bed and leaving through the narrow gap at the bottom.  He is not able to collapse the rails and leave in the normal way.  His carers had two concerns.  Firstly that he would injure himself in scooting down the bed and back up, and secondly that the existing rails were not firm enough for him to manoeuvre himself when he returned to the bed.

The existing rails were on loan, so modification was not allowed.

Existing bed rails

Vibration therapy for child

20th February 2020

A paediatric physiotherapist had been working, unsuccessfully, to improve the walking posture of a child with a rare condition. The child had become a toe walker and, despite focussed physiotherapy and targeted botox treatments, the toe walking remained.  Her previous experience of working with  autistic children hinted that perhaps a sensory element is connected with the child’s condition. She discovered that, if she activated the vibration mode on her phone and placed this against the sole of the child’s foot, they enjoyed the sensation to such an extent that if the phone was moved, the child would follow with their foot. With impending surgery to lengthen tendons, it was imperative to find an effective physiotherapeutic solution to offer the best possible outcome.

Chair controller button protector

29th January 2020

The controller for this chair has four buttons mounted close together. Two of the buttons resulted in the chair becoming completely horizontal which caused the client to panic.  Her carers requested that these two buttons should be covered so that the client could not accidentally operate them.

Stairlift safety rails

29th January 2020

The client  fears that weakness in her legs will allow her to fall forward out of the seat of her stairlift.

Bed mattress lifter and call switch

21st January 2020

This client, who has motor neuron disease, lives with and is cared for by his family. He had been supplied with a mattress elevator to allow him to get out of bed unaided.  Unfortunately he had almost no strength in his hands so had no chance of operating the small buttons on the original remote control supplied.

Load folding bike into car boot

6th January 2020

The client wishes to be able to take a folding bike in his car boot, but is finding that his reduced strength makes it harder to fold it up and load into the car. The design of the bike is such that it does not stand up when folded, so requiring three hands to manipulate it.