Today, as part of its digital service, Smart Living Solutions, Appello launches its app, the AppelloApp​, to help older people remain safe and secure in their own homes, whilst staying connected.

The AppelloApp allows residents to video call their friends and neighbours, and manage video door entry without leaving the comfort of their armchairs – decreasing the likelihood of falls and accidents. The app will also provide a medication reminder hub, allowing residents to take ownership of their medication schedule and providing reassurance to their family and caregivers.

THE UK’s first personalised children’s book to include a wheelchair option has launched in the UK.

Where Next, Teddy? from Chapterful puts children at the heart of their own night-time adventure. Not only is the story personalised with the protagonist’s name featured throughout, the main character can be customised depending on the recipient’s features, including hair colour and whether they wear glasses. 

It is also includes the option to sit the child in a wheelchair – the first for a British personalised children’s book.  

Louis Porter of publishers Chapterful said: “We wanted to create a beautifully illustrated children’s book that puts the recipient right at the heart of the story.

The Alpha-Stim is a clinically proven microcurrent device that is to help fibromyalgia sufferers and has just been the subject of a successful trial on the NHS.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is launching a month-long pilot communications programme to promote jobs in the adult social care sector. The pilot starts October 31st and is taking place in Gloucestershire and Tyne and Wear. This will test and identify the optimal marketing channels in different geographical locations to inform a national campaign in early 2019.

The Pembrokeshire Coast is famous for its winding Coast Path and picturesque sandy beaches, and with the help of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, several beaches can be accessed by specially designed beach wheelchairs.

Wheelchairs for use on sandy beaches are available to hire under the National Park Authority’s beach wheelchairs scheme at eight locations across Pembrokeshire for a small fee or no charge.

Brook Miller Mobility has been quietly working hard since 1998 building up a well-respected reputation as experts in providing solutions to a wide range of mobility problems.

With a large modern mobility superstore in Elland, West Yorkshire teamed up with its adjoining workshop space where a wide range of vehicles are adapted to meet customers individual and specific mobility requirements and are an approved Motability supplier of wheelchair accessible vehicles.

Recently however things have got even more exciting, with the launch of the Liberation Wheelchair Accessible Motorhome and more recently two new Disabled Access Leisure Vehicles which have joined the range.

Disabled people can enjoy a holiday knowing they have those key aids they rely on at home, through a considerate approach to accommodation.

The Homelands Trust runs four luxury accessible lodges in Lundin Links, Fife, and is planning to build a further five to cope with demand- the current accommodation is almost completely booked solid for the year! 

Part of the popularity of the development stems from its commitment to making people feel they can access a ‘home away from home’ as closely as possible. The commitment extends to the bathroom fixtures- two of the purpose-built, open plan, two storey lodges feature a ground floor wetroom equipped with, among other aids, a Closomat shower toilet.

A loo that claims to deliver the ultimate in intimate care can also deliver the ultimate in future-proofed and stylish bathroom design, through developments in flushing technology. The Asana is the latest multi-functional WC to be designed and engineered by Closomat, Britain’s brand leader in enabled toileting. It combines shower toilet assistive technology (integrated douching and drying) for able and disabled alike, with contemporary styling- which extends right through to the flush operating mechanisms.

DFN Charitable Foundation Begins Bold New Chapter: Organisation confirms CEO appointment.

The DFN Charitable Foundation, founded in 2014 by David Forbes-Nixon, has announced the appointment of a new CEO as it continues its life-changing work for those with learning difficulties and disabilities.

Kevin Horne, from Norwich, joins as CEO of the DFN Charitable Foundation (‘the Foundation’) and DFN Project Search after 21 years heading a multi-million pound business services enterprise, through which he actively developed employability initiatives to support those with learning disabilities.

Exemplar Health Care are set to host an informal evening of learning and networking aimed at Wigan based health professionals. Led by Exemplar Consultant Psychiatrist Dr Peter Marshall the event on Wednesday 7th November will see Dr Marshall share his insights into the link between severe mental illness and physical health inequalities.

Specialising in treating individuals living with severe mental ill-health, including people with treatment resistant schizophrenia, Dr Marshall works with them to develop new strategies to improve their lives.

The Invictus Games Sydney 2018 presented by Jaguar Land Rover has come to a spectacular end with a sell out Closing Ceremony at Qudos Bank Arena officially bringing the fourth edition of the Games to a close.

Featuring ARIA award-winning band Birds of Tokyo, Grammy-nominated singer Aloe Blacc, Colin Hay and The Kingdom Choir, the Closing Ceremony capped off a week that saw more than 100,000 people flock to Sydney Olympic Park and Sydney Harbour to watch 500 competitors from 18 nations contest medals in 11 sports.  

AJM Healthcare provide services to wheelchair users, offering not only a repair service but advice and training. Here, UCan2 editor Victoria Galligan finds out what makes the company such a hit…

UCan2 contributor Jenni Meredith comments on the changes in regulation concerning cannabis oil, and talks about mental health issues and accessible loos...

Do All Systems Go?

Systems are necessary. Everything we do has some sort of structure. It’s the rigidity built into systems that gets me going. Surely flexibility is optimal? So why are we faced daily with the inflexibility of systems imposed, it would seem, just to make us think more mechanically? Is this what Andy Warhol meant when he famously said he wanted to be a machine? But that was back in the mid ‘70s— an analogue era with no computer algorithms to curtail his creative flow.

Leading social care interest groups from across the care sector are calling on the Government to urgently rethink its Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill that is now at a crucial parliamentary stage. 

Concerns about the legislation are outlined in a new paper ahead of the House of Lords committee stage when it will be scrutinised by peers. The paper reflects the views of a wide range of organisations that represent people using support services, their families, care provider organisations and infrastructure bodies.

A new supported living service run by Eden Futures in North Lincolnshire has welcomed its first resident this week.

*Kelly moved into one of the eight specialist apartments that have been designed to provide a supported living service for people who require an alternative to residential care provision and with a learning disability or mental health need.

The new service in Scunthorpe is a re-development of two existing bungalows into enhanced, specialist supported living apartments that each includes their own front door, a bedroom, a bathroom/wet room and an open plan lounge/kitchen/diner.  Each person has their own private garden, and the facility has assistive technology built in to the infrastructure to aid independent living.