Shower chair with commode

The client has a shower chair that she uses to transfer from her living room to her bathroom. She now needs a commode pan fitting underneath this chair. However, there are no runners or sliders to which a pan could be attached.

Since the shower chair is frequently sprayed with water, the solution to the problem had to be made entirely out of materials which would not rust or corrode.

A plastic commode pan was supplied by the O/T. A frame to hold this pan was constructed from aluminium angle, held together by stainless steel pop rivets. The central rod of these rivets (the end of which remains with the rivet when fixed in situ) is also made out of stainless steel, unlike the case of the more common aluminium pop rivets, where this rod is made of mild steel.

Runners to support this frame were made from aluminium angle, and attached to the side of the shower chair by means of supports which fitted over the chair side rails. These were then clamped together with stainless steel machine screws, thereby tightly gripping the chair sides. Hence no modifications whatsoever (such as drilled holes for attachment screws) were made to the chair.

In use, the pan is inserted into the frame from behind along the runners attached to the chair. The frame is sized so that when pushed forwards as far as it will go, the pan is in exactly the right position underneath the seat. After use, the frame can be pulled backwards to withdraw it. The runners are designed so that the frame can be almost fully withdrawn, but will still be retained by the runners. This allows the carer to then take hold of the frame with both hands, and remove it completely from the chair.

The client can use the toilet without transferring to a plumbed-in toilet.