Why can't hospital outpatient clinics cope with patients who can't sit for long in the waiting room? Or can they?

To be fair I read an article (non ME) from a wheelchair user describing their experiences when they had cancer.

The cancer ward he was staying on didn’t have a disabled toilet or bathroom and other facilities you’d expect eg different height benches or couches to make them accessible

which seemed shocking in itself when you think of it as a workplace or somewhere someone is having to ‘stay’ and hotel or office regulations

and then when you think how for some cancers most might be older and might be so ill at some point either due to the illness or the treatment that they needed a wheelchair. It can’t be helpful for the staff

 

Has anyone ever been to the ‘facilities management’ or similar department of a large organisation?

it’s like walking back in time to the male heavy offices. Where people still often takes lunch at the same time every day And normally somewhere off site or in a basement. Talk about siloed.

Having meetings to discuss needs in a project on a project management tracker can only get so far if it’s an area that hasn’t yet had that revolution where user-insight and other aspects starts to be built in and valued as part of the model.

but also it’s that day in day out seeing things or not being there that would take so long to explain vs if they were on the wards or in those offices and had lots of disabled people on the team and in management

Maybe I'm wrong and those in hospitals now recruit nurses, patients and OTs that they train to be on their design team..

for some reason our knowledge even on our own issues isn’t valued (and the critical thinking and curiosity not being 'the norm/majority' can mean you have as a skillset)

I admire it in some ways (you've gotta laugh or you'd cry in others) but I remember two new senior managers doing a news post where I worked saying they’d each taken a different type of wheelchair for the day to see how they got on round all the buildings and area

I guess in theory it’s at least going to give some empathy but different to when you are going to miss a meeting (and actually have a full day of real things, not just a day to wheel about) and it’s years on end and did they do it for the journey from home too?

 

thanks for the link

absolutely

in case it helps anyone i take a stool like this one (dont know if it this exact one as i bought elsewhere 20 yrs ago, but it looks like this ) it fits in my wheelchair bag. plus a cushion
Folding Handy Step Stool - For Bathroom, Kitchen, Toilet, Office, Home Storage Collapsible Multi Use | One Step Fold Plastic Stool, Portable Footstool, Holds Upto 80kg : Amazon.co.uk: Home & Kitchen

 

I have a zero-gravity chair for gardens, it’s lovely and comfy! Not light to carry, though.

 

I have worked with some amazing Facilities Management teams. Like many “back office” functions, nobody notices them until something goes wrong. They don’t have the final say on things like budget and spend, that’s the top brass. It’s very rare they are given “carte-Blanche” to actually design things, replace things etc.
Howpitals recruit a nurse, OT etc on the design team in the way certain researchers recruit pwME PPI pets to green-light their preconceived ideas.

 

I have a folding stool that I take with me if not using a wheelchair. It's painful for me to sit using one for long periods of time. I also have blow up feet supports but the bigger ones are too heavy for me to to carry.

Due to the cramped conditions in Waiting Rooms sitting with the folding footrest and legs out stretched makes it hard for people to get past me. The ideal seating places are taken up quickly and there is a lot of competition for them. Sometimes I will be asked by the staff to stop using it.

I spoke about this previously I think. I was assaulted by a Security Guard at A&E in a London hospital after trying to lie down across some seats. There was room to do this. He has assumed I was drunk. This was years ago. I made a formal complaint after by letter as I was too sick and weak at the time. There was no A&E manager at the time. They couldn't fill the position. There were no other staff 'front of house' at that time apart from an occasional nurse in reception and a huge queue.