An uplifting experience? Hospital passenger lifts and their suitability for disabled people

Hospitals should be welcoming places, and disabled people should not expect difficulties when using a hospital's facilities. For some elderly and disabled people the passenger lift may be the only means of vertical movement within a building. We visited four hospitals and inspected their passenger lifts for use by disabled and elderly people. We compared our findings with those of an 'ideal lift' drawn from recommendations by disabled support groups, National Health Services Estates Department and building regulations. We found that most hospital passenger lifts are inadequate for those with mobility, visual and hearing impairments. Consequently, disabled and elderly people might have problems using hospital passenger lifts, with a subsequent loss of independence. The provision of well-designed and accessible passenger lifts is central to imaginative hospital building design.