The Lab
The challenge
For people who live in their own home, the lack of accessibility is often a significant problem. Many older buildings or apartments are not designed to meet the needs of people with reduced mobility. High thresholds, narrow corridors, steps or inaccessible bathrooms make it difficult for residents to move around freely or leave the house safely.
These barriers mean that even simple everyday tasks, such as leaving the home or accessing certain rooms, can become major challenges. People who rely on walking aids or wheelchairs are particularly affected, as they are often unable to leave their home independently without help. This severely restricts their independence and increases the risk of social isolation.
In addition, there are financial hurdles: structural measures to make a home barrier-free are often very expensive and complex, which is not a feasible solution for many people. This creates a dilemma in which those affected want to live in their own home but are severely restricted in their mobility and everyday life by the existing barriers.
Possible solutions
To solve this problem, we need a tool that digitizes the admission process in the outpatient and day-care sector and at the same time enables a seamless link to the inpatient sector. This system must facilitate the exchange of information between the areas and ensure that relevant data is available in real time. For example, outpatient and day-care services could be informed immediately when their clients are admitted to the inpatient sector.
It is also crucial that the tool is compatible with our existing care software. In this way, the relevant data can be transferred directly without the need for duplicate data entry. This would not only reduce the administrative workload, but also increase transparency and efficiency throughout the entire admission process, which would ensure better utilization of our capacities and more needs-based care for our customers.
Requirements and boundary conditions
To improve the mobility and safety of people in non-accessible homes, various simple and inexpensive solutions can be considered. One option is to use mobile ramps or flexible doorstep aids that make it possible to overcome height differences, such as steps at the front door or indoors. You could also consider using small, mobile stair aids that make it easier for people to negotiate stairs without the need for costly conversions. These solutions would be significantly cheaper than permanently installed stairlifts and can be used flexibly in different locations.
In addition, electronic assistance systems, such as automatic door openers or simple smart lighting controls, could make everyday life easier by improving access to rooms or making it safer to find your way around the home.
All of these measures should either be affordable via the care insurance fund or so inexpensive to purchase that they can also be implemented on a limited budget.