People with complex care needs who require specialised facilities when out and about will be able to benefit from a new Changing Places toilet which has been installed at North Cambs Hospital in Wisbech.

Changing Places toilets are larger, accessible toilets for people who cannot use standard accessible toilets, with equipment such as hoists, curtains, adult-sized changing benches, and space for carers.

Malcolm Bruce, chair of the Friends of North Cambs Hospital, said: "The Friends of the Wisbech Hospitals are delighted to have contributed towards the funding of the Changing Places facility. 

“This will be an invaluable asset to our local community and is the first of a significant investment by the Friends towards the re-development of the North Cambridgeshire Hospital site." 

The new facility will be available to use from 1 November 2023 during the hours the hospital is open and will support people with profound and multiple learning disabilities, as well as those with other physical disabilities who require extra equipment and space to allow them to use the toilet safely and comfortably.

Kate Howard, Chief Nurse at Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust, the hospital’s landlord, said: “Being able to use a toilet that is suitable for your needs is a basic human right and I’m delighted that this new facility will enhance the lives of people with severe disabilities, as well as their families and carers.

“We’re constantly striving to make our community sites more accessible and inclusive, and the addition of a Changing Places toilet will help to tackle the exclusion that many disabled people face and enable visitors to enjoy everything the local community has to offer with dignity and freedom.”

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For further information, please contact Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust’s Communications Team on 0300 555 6655 or email ccs.communications@nhs.net

Notes for editors

Why are Changing Places toilets important?

Thousands of people with profound and multiple learning disabilities, as well as other disabilities that severely limit mobility, cannot use standard accessible toilets.

People may be limited in their own mobility so need equipment to help them or may need support from one or two carers to either get on the toilet or to have their continence pad changed.

Standard accessible toilets (or "disabled toilets") do not provide changing benches or hoists and most are too small to accommodate more than one person. Without Changing Places toilets, the person with disabilities is put at risk, and families are forced to risk their own health and safety by changing their loved one on a toilet floor.

Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust provides the following extensive portfolio of services:

• a range of children’s services to children, young people and families in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk

• iCaSH: Integrated Contraception and Sexual Health Services in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Milton Keynes, Norfolk, Peterborough and Suffolk

• dental services in Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and Suffolk

• musculoskeletal services and pelvic health physiotherapy services in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

• Children and adults’ community health services for the residents of Luton

• Children and adults’ community health services for the residents of Bedfordshire, provided in partnership with East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT).

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