Fascinating and stimulating day out but...
4
4
Date of visit: July 2023
I have experience of challenges around: a hidden impairment, hearing, moving around, speaking or communicating and understanding.
Overall Rating
Good
I was in a group of 10. There was 3 carers and 7 elderly people 4 of whom have dementia and needed constant supervision. We had 3 in wheelchairs and the rest were walking...the actual exhibition was amazing and everyone in our group was absolutely mesmerised and thoroughly enjoyed watching all the sealife, nobody fell asleep or asked to go home, they just had an amazing day out. However, when we first arrived at The Deep we had just had a 2 hour journey which is a very long journey for our clients whose ages ranged from 80- 96 and all everyone wanted when we got there was a cup of tea! We found the café and so nobody was separated we pushed 2 tables together so we could all sit round them together. We also had with us a bag of snacks as one of the people we were caring for was a diabetic... I put the bag on a table while I was arranging the wheelchairs and were just sitting down when a member of staff came over to us and said " you can't eat a picnic in here" we said we weren't having a picnic and was just going to have a cup of tea and then they said " and you can't put tables together either" ...this caused some difficulty for us trying to arrange our clients around 3 separate tables. One carer went to fetch the drinks for everyone which left 2 carers looking after 7 residents who were all spread out across separate tables and all had varying needs. There was no negotiation and the staff concerned insisted we had separate tables or we would have to leave. This was not helpful or supportive and I felt put a real dampener in the visit. It was very busy and I know staff would be under pressure, but so were we as carers trying to give our clients a nice day out. Overall it was a brilliant day out but the attitude of the staff was really disappointing and they didn't meet the needs of our group.
Disabled Access In and Around
Poor
We brought our own wheelchairs with us
Parking & Transport
Excellent
We hired a coach that could accommodate 3 wheelchairs for our disabled clients
Accessible Toilets
Average
It was easy to find, there was no soap for hand washing but we managed ok with our own wet wipes and sanitiser. It was very busy though as it was the school holidays
Staff
Average
Some were really kind and helpful but some were unpleasant and made assumptions that we were trying to eat a picnic in the café when they spotted a bag of snacks which we brought along for a diabetic in our group! And then refused to let us move 2 tables together to make enough table space for our disabled group.
