{"id":279039,"date":"2026-01-11T09:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T09:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/279039\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T09:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T09:05:09","slug":"its-really-degrading-four-in-five-of-northern-irelands-hospitals-still-have-no-disabled-changing-place-facilities-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/279039\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s really degrading\u2019 \u2013 Four in five of Northern Ireland\u2019s hospitals still have no disabled changing place facilities \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Co Derry family<\/a> has told of how they have had to go through the \u201cdegrading\u201d experience of changing their disabled loved one on bathroom floors when attending medical appointments as less than one in five hospitals have dedicated changing place facilities<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Currently, only four of the north\u2019s 25 local, general, area and regional hospitals as defined by the Department of Health (DoH)<\/a> in October 2024 have changing place toilets. <\/p>\n

These include the Southwest Acute and Altnagelvin Hospitals in the Western Trust, Antrim Area Hospital in the Northern Trust and Craigavon Area Hospital in the Southern Trust. <\/p>\n

Read more: <\/b>New specialised public toilets for people with complex needs to be introduced across Belfast<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Sean<\/a>\"Run<\/a><\/p>\n

The toilets are typically larger than standard disabled bathrooms and contain adjustable changing benches, track hoist systems, privacy screens and adjustable wash basins. <\/p>\n

In 2022, legislation was brought in by then-Finance Minister Conor Murphy<\/a> which made such facilities a requirement in any new buildings where people gather, such as hospitals or entertainment spaces. <\/p>\n

Speaking to The Irish News, Coleraine mother and daughter<\/a> Tracey Henry and Kayla (20) said they were campaigning for the facilities to be extended to all of the north\u2019s hospitals. <\/p>\n

Tracey\u2019s oldest daughter, 23-year-old Ellie, has quadriplegic cerebral palsy and is a full-time wheelchair user.<\/p>\n

Ms Henry described the process of having to attend appointments in hospitals without changing facilities as a \u201cnightmare\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to change her, you\u2019ve got to take her to a disabled bathroom \u2013 one where you can\u2019t even get her chair into,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\"DisabledChanging places, like the one pictured, include features such as hoists and adjustable changing benches <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to take her, lift her and put her onto the floor and leave her chair outside. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe floors are like any toilet floors are, absolutely a disgrace. Or she stays wet, and you have to take her into a shopping centre, where we know has a changing place.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that the experience is \u201creally degrading\u201d and \u201chard work\u201d, often having to bring extra blankets or coats to pad out the floors. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not the way it should be and it\u2019s not dignified for her,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ellie\u2019s younger sister Kayla, who has launched a petition calling on the department to allocate dedicated funding to ensure facilities are installed in all hospitals, said that the issue had been \u201cnagging\u201d at her \u201cfor a while\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"TraceyTracey and Kayla pictured with Ellie (middle), who has quadriplegic cerebral palsy and is a full-time wheelchair user PICTURE: TRACEY HENRY <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a long-term thing with my sister,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as she couldn\u2019t fit in a nappy you had to change her on the floor and it\u2019s so dehumanising and it\u2019s not right in this day and age.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having spoken with other families and individuals who are in a similar position, she said she\u2019s heard from some who have had to \u201cwet themselves\u201d or \u201curinate outside then go into transport soaking wet\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny disabled person could use the accessible change because they have a toilet in them but not every disabled person can use a disabled toilet and that\u2019s what the difference is,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

A DoH spokesperson said that all trusts have \u201cdisability action plans in place\u201d and that all hospitals \u201ccurrently provide public ambulant toilets and wheelchair accessible toilets, which allow a wheelchair user to use the facilities independently.\u201d<\/p>\n

They added that changing place facilities have been considered at design stage of all new healthcare buildings since 2009 and that they will continue to comply with requirements. <\/p>\n

\u201cOver time this will mean that the quantity of these facilities will increase across the healthcare estate,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

However, they said that given the \u201csevere financial challenges\u201d and budgetary demands there were no plans to centrally fund the provision of such facilities in \u201cany existing hospitals or health centres where currently not provided\u201d. <\/p>\n

The department recommended that patients should contact hospital staff in advance to make arrangements for \u201csafe and dignified\u201d changing facilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Co Derry family has told of how they have had to go through the \u201cdegrading\u201d experience of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[140913,18,135,140912,690,19,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-279039","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-disabled","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-health-and-social-care","12":"tag-hospital","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115875671387724501","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}