Hi there

We are a part of Academy Trust and this year we need a hoist. We managed to get one on loan from the LEA and we then pay for upkeep and servicing.

Its worth of asking your PD Specialist teacher from the local team if they have any suggestions.

Hope this helps and good luck

We are a specialist provision within a mainstream school. All hoists within the resource are paid for by the local authority as part of meeting the needs of pupils who otherwise wouldn't come to school. We pay for the annual inspections, maintenance etc. out of our budget.

Question - if the pupil needs a hoist to transfer, how will they transfer to an evac chair?

If an evac chair is accessible, then I think there needs to be one at each staircase the pupil might need to use to come out in an emergency so staff don't have to try to get to the chair through a fire to evacuate the pupil down a safe staircase.

Oh, and the school will need to train staff in the use of the evac chair and maintain that training as staffing changes occur. having been through this, many staff find using the chair very nerve-wracking the first time they do so  but quite easy once they are used to it. We paid for an external trainer to come in and train staff, using staff as the evacuees during the training.

In Essex we would pay for the hoisting facilities if it was to meet the needs of a child on our caseload, although we are encouraging schools to look at their long term accessibility.  This means there are fewer delays and we have some control over the quality of what is provided.  Very occasionally, schools prefer to use their own builders but we like them to use our spec and there would need to be an advance agreement from the Panel to reimburse (we have a Panel made up of specialist teachers and SEND OPs colleagues who meet approx. half termly to discuss all requests).  We wouldn't pay for evac chairs.