Stair Lifts, Platform Lifts and the Alternatives: Getting Around Your Home Safely

For many people, the stairs are the first part of the house to become a problem. Everything else can often be worked around. The stairs cannot, and they are usually one of the reasons that the spare room downstairs quietly becomes the accessible bedroom.

Most people start by searching for a stair lift, then find themselves comparing quotes before anyone has looked at how they actually move. This guide works the other way around: what a stair lift does well and where it stops, what platform lifts offer instead, the alternatives that cost far less, and how any possible funding works in New Zealand.

Start with the stairs you actually have

Being specific about the staircase design can narrow the field quickly.

• Straight run, or does it turn? A straight flight is the simplest and cheapest case. Any turn or landing means a custom made rail, which costs more and takes longer to manufacture.

• How wide is it, and who else uses it? Anything fitted to the stair wall takes up some of the stair width.

• Inside or outside? The steps to the front door are a different problem from the internal stairs, and often a cheaper one to solve depending on the height and overall design.

• What is at the top and bottom? Landing space usually decides whether you can get on and off safely, and whether a walking frame can be positioned to wait at each end.

Stair lifts: what they do well, and where they stop

A stair lift is a powered chair on a rail fixed to the stairs or the wall beside them. For the right person it is a good answer: far less disruptive than building work, often installed in a day on a straight flight, and it can keep someone living safely in their own home. The limits are often worth knowing first.

• You have to transfer on and off the seat safely and sit unsupported while it moves. If standing and turning is already unreliable, this may not be the right tool for you.

• It moves you, not your equipment. Most people need a walking frame waiting at each end, and a wheelchair user needs a chair on both levels to safely move around.

• Curved staircases cost significantly more than straight ones, because the rail is made to fit your stairs specifically.

• Ask what happens in a power cut? Most models can run on a battery, but confirm it first and know how far it will get you until the power supply returns.

Platform lifts and through floor lifts

If transferring out of a wheelchair is not safe for you, then a seated lift is the wrong category. A platform lift carries you and your wheelchair together. A through floor lift works like a small domestic elevator, travelling into the room above. Both need real space at each end, involve building work, often require consent, and can cost considerably more. When the alternative is moving house, they are frequently the right call.

The alternatives worth pricing first

Plenty of people who start out researching stair lifts can often end up doing something else entirely, for a fraction of the cost, and are usually happier for it.

• Single level living. Moving the bedroom downstairs is the most common solution of all. It usually only needs an adjustable bed, a chair that is easy to get out of, and a workable bathroom on that level, but it removes the problem rather than managing it.

• Making the stairs safer. A second handrail, better fixed lighting at both ends and a contrasting edge on each stair tread are cheap, quick, and can often make a real difference to someone whose balance or eyesight has changed.

• Ramps. If the difficulty is the front external steps rather than the internal stairs, then a threshold or portable ramp can often solve it outright.

• Fewer trips. A walking aid kept on each level, a second phone charger kept upstairs, or simply moving the location of where essential things live can take the stairs from being used from eight times a day to maybe two.

How funding works in New Zealand

Home modifications can be publicly funded if you meet the eligibility. The process is worth understanding early, because it usually takes time.

• Your GP or another health professional refers you to an assessor, an occupational therapist or physiotherapist who is qualified in providing a housing assessment.

• That assessment is arranged through Enable NZ or Accessable, depending on where you live, and they help to work out what will genuinely suit you and your house layout and  what the most cost effective solution is.

• If you are deemed eligible, then your assessor applies for Disability Support Services funding, which a clinical team then reviews rather than just approves automatically.

• There is a funding threshold for all access modifications between levels of a home. Above it, the building process and the remaining costs sit with you, so be advised to ask your assessor early in the process what the current available funding limit is.

If your situation is the result of an accident rather than a health condition, ACC may be the right avenue instead. It is worth asking early rather than just assuming.

Get assessed before you get quoted

An installer quotes on a product. An assessor starts from how you move, what your house is like, and what is likely to change over the next few years. That is the better place to begin, because the most expensive outcome is a correctly installed lift that turns out to be the wrong answer for your situation.

Independent Living does not sell or install stair lifts. We would rather say so plainly than sell you something adjacent. What we can help you with is everything either side of the stairs: ramps, transfer equipment, adjustable beds, electric lift chairs, bathroom safety products, powerchairs and scooters, and equipment hire while you wait for an assessment or a build.

Come and talk it through

If you are at the start of this process and unsure where to begin, ask. Our Information team talks to occupational therapists, funders and families every day, and we are happy to help by pointing you towards the right service even when the answer is not something that we sell.

You are always welcome at any of our three Auckland showrooms in either Browns Bay, Royal Oak and Botany. If getting to a showroom is hard, give us a call on 0800 625 100 to discuss options and our mobile service can potentially bring equipment to your home across Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and the Coromandel, and we ship nationwide with free delivery across Auckland metro for mobility scooters and powerchairs.

Independent Living has been helping New Zealanders live well for more than 43 years. As a charitable trust, our advice is honest and our focus is you: no pressure, no upsell, just the right solution for the home you are living in.

Call us on 0800 625 100, visit ilsnz.org, or drop into a showroom.