Accessible showering from Horne
When designing accessible shower facilities for people less able, physically and/or neurologically vulnerable, including those living with dementia, their safety must be of paramount importance. Also significant is quality of life, which can be enhanced by abating fears and enabling independence, autonomy and self-assurance through thoughtful, inclusive design. Horne’s best-selling range of healthcare showers has recently been updated to optimise inclusivity.
Safe
The guaranteed safe choice is with a Horne pre-plumbed shower panel as it offers a number of unique safety features:
- Integral TSV1-3, a highly accurate and reliable thermostatic shower valve (healthcare approved), continuously and automatically adjusts the mixed water temperature to a safe and comfortable 41℃, irrespective of pressure and temperature variations in the water supplies.
- Unique TSV1-3 design requires only 5℃ differential between the (set) mixed and hot water supply temperatures, giving the fastest and safest hot water shut-off response in the event of cold water supply failure. Anti-scald safety feature.
- Burn risk eliminated – panel casing protects the user from the high surface temperature of the hot water supply pipe.
- A flow regulator limits the water flow to 8 litres per minute – a rate unlikely to overwhelm a vulnerable user yet remains effective for wetting and rinsing.
- Integral In-Line Thermal Disinfection unit (ILTDU) facilitates periodic thermal disinfection (by maintenance operatives) to mitigate the risk of retrograde contamination by pathogens, thus protecting at-risk users.
Uniquely Inclusive
Accessibility is about empowering independence and applies equally to public amenities as well as aged/dementia and other care facilities. Consider optimised lever hand controls for flow and temperature:
- Low torque operation with closed fist – aiding users with impaired hand mobility
- Enhanced visible/touch/operational differences aid users with impaired sight
- On-Off flow lever– single, rotates through 90°, black ‘water droplet’ markings
- Temperature lever – dual, rotates through 360°, red and blue arrow-wedge markings, moulded for easy grip
Integral to the shower panel, or mounted vertically alongside a dual-outlet model, pictured below (which also facilitates assisted showering), the robust powder-coated aluminium riser rail doubles as a supportive grab rail. Available in white or dementia-friendly orange (a long-lasting colour* with good tonal contrast, LRV=27), its sliding handset holder also incorporates enhanced inclusive design features:
- Contrast between riser carriage and rail aids users with impaired sight
- Low actuation force and effortless movement enables easy height adjustment, even with a clenched fist
- Pull-tab (mechanism release extender) for wheelchair and shorter users enables easy lowering of high-set handset carriage
- Handset attitude (forward and backward rotation) infinitely variable and also adjustable with just a clenched fist
- Robust and unbreakable handset gripper
Supportive
Additional supportive grab rails, omitting the sliding handset carriage, complete the shower or, indeed, any accessible washroom installation. Mount in any orientation adjacent to accessible baths, WCs and hand wash basins for Changing Places and Doc M compliance.
* Research shows that colour vision declines with age and progressive neurological impairments such as dementia; colour perception declines from the blue end of the light spectrum. Yellow, orange and red are perceived comparatively much longer.