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Facilities at Inverness's Eastgate Shopping Centre get £10k upgrade


By Val Sweeney

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Richard Davidson shows off the new facilities.
Richard Davidson shows off the new facilities.

DISABLED people with complex care needs will benefit from a fully-accessible toilet in Inverness.

The £10,000 facility, installed in the Eastgate Shopping Centre, is the only one of its type in the city centre.

It has been housed in what has been named the Lachie Smith room in tribute to a stalwart of Shopmobility in the Highlands.

Mr Smith, who died earlier this year, was the driving force behind the charity which provides scooters and wheelchairs to people with mobility problems.

The new toilet, which includes a bed to offer a changing facility, is recognised by Changing Places, a national consortium campaigning to provide fully accessible toilet facilities.

Jackie Cuddy, Eastgate Shopping Centre manager, said when phase two of the centre was built it included a facility in the lift lobby in the car park for Shopmobility.

It offers wheelchairs and motorised scooters to enable people with disabilities easy access to all the shops and a toilet to meet the requirements of promoting a more inclusive society, which is part of the Changing Places campaign. “Legislation has changed over the years, needs have increased and products have improved,” she said.

“The facility at Eastgate, having had fair wear and tear over the last 17 years, was not of a standard to meet the needs of its users.”

The Inverness Common Good Fund last year agreed to give Shopmobility a £5000 grant to upgrade it.

This was matched by the shopping centre which agreed to carry out the work and also to clean and maintain it in the future.

“The existing sanitary ware has been relocated to enable maximum space for carers’ changing requirements with a new bed installed plus a hoist to enable easy movement onto the bed,” she said.

It can be accessed via a special key.


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