26 Years in Bathrooms Meets 25 Years of PROCare
Simon Thomas joins PROCare bringing 26 years of accessible housing adaptations experience and he’s already found a favourite product.
Simon Thomas has been in thousands of bathrooms. His words, not ours!
And only a few weeks into his new role as National Key Account Manager at PROCare, he’s already fallen in love... With a basin.
That probably tells you quite a lot about Simon.
After 26 years working around bathrooms, wetrooms and accessible housing adaptations, including a long senior career at Geberit, he still notices the little things that make a product work better for the person actually using it.
That suits us down to the ground. Simon joins PROCare in our 25th year, bringing a fair bit of experience of his own and, luckily for us, plenty of opinions on bathrooms too.
He knew what he was walking into
Simon might be new to the payroll, but he is definitely not new to PROCare.
He has known the business and our team for years from the manufacturer side of the industry, working with occupational therapists, local authorities, housing providers and contractors across accessible bathrooms, wetrooms and independent living.
So there was no big introduction needed. He already knew we were a bit different from a single manufacturer. PROCare is independent, so the starting point does not have to be: which one of our products can we use? It can be: what does this person and this property actually need?
One day the answer might be a straightforward general needs bathroom. The next it could be a level access wetroom, a wash and dry toilet, a half height shower door, an adapted kitchen or something completely bespoke.
Sometimes the answer is already sitting on a shelf in Wigan. Sometimes we have to work it out... Simon likes that.
Apparently it was the basin
We asked someone who has spent 26 years around bathrooms which PROCare product had caught his eye first. His answer was the PROLine basin.
Simon talked about the “little bathrooms” he has seen over the years, where an older, deeper basin has been taken out and replaced with something modern, slim and shallow.
It might look tidy - then somebody actually has to use it.
Simon talked about people worrying about splashing water onto the floor or simply trying to have a shave without making a mess. What caught his attention with the PROLine was the depth of the bowl and the amount of usable basin you still get in a small bathroom.
As Simon put it: “That’s why I fell in love with this one.”
He'd only been at PROCare a few weeks... There's something quite PROCare about that answer. It's not just: here is the specification... It's more: I’ve seen this problem for years and this actually helps.
26 years of accessible housing adaptations teaches you a few things
Simon has seen adaptations from pretty much every angle. He's spent years talking to occupational therapists about what somebody needs, contractors about what will actually work in the property and residents about what it is like to live with the end result.
That matters because accessible housing adaptations rarely happen in perfect conditions... The bathroom is tiny. The waste is in the wrong place. The floor build is awkward. The original specification no longer suits the resident. Or the contractor opens the job up and finds something nobody could see beforehand.
Twenty six years of seeing those jobs gives you a fairly good idea of which questions need asking early. It also teaches you that a technically good product is only the right product if it works for the person, the property and everyday life.
That thinking fits PROCare. We can talk flow rates, gradients, floor construction and specifications all day, and sometimes we do. But there is always somebody at the other end of the job who needs to shower, use the toilet, cook their tea or move around their own home more easily, and that bit cannot get lost.
Now Simon has a much bigger toolbox
Simon will probably always be associated with wash and dry toilets... Spend that long at Geberit and you're not escaping toilets completely. But his new toolbox is considerably bigger.
PROCare supplies accessible and general needs bathrooms, wetrooms and adapted kitchens for housing associations, local authorities and contractors across the UK.
That includes wetroom formers, shower trays, showers, sanitaryware, flooring, wall panels, specialist seating, half height shower doors, wash and dry toilets and support rails from Invisible Creations. Then there are the more awkward jobs. Our TRU Cubicle gives housing teams another option where an existing bathroom or property is particularly difficult to adapt.
Behind the products sit specialist surveys, CAD drawings, specification support, in house manufacturing, stockholding, national delivery and technical knowledge.
It means Simon can have a different conversation with a housing provider. Instead of starting with one manufacturer or one product, he can start with the problem. That is a big part of what we mean when we describe PROCare as an independent adaptation delivery partner.
General needs bathrooms and adaptations have more in common than we think
This is one Simon will be getting stuck into with us. Housing providers are not only delivering individual Disabled Facilities Grant adaptations. They're replacing bathrooms and kitchens across whole estates, managing void properties, carrying out planned works and trying to make housing stock work for decades.
We think there is a big opportunity to join those conversations up. A general needs bathroom being fitted today could still be somebody’s bathroom in 10, 15 or 20 years.
Making sensible decisions around space, sanitaryware, flooring, showering and layout now can make that home much easier to adapt later. It doesn't mean making every bathroom look adapted. Quite the opposite.
It means not making tomorrow’s job harder than it needs to be. That's what sits behind our Fit For Our Future campaign: creating more future ready homes, improving delivery, supporting smarter asset management and helping more people remain independent at home.
Simon has spent years seeing what happens after bathroom products are installed and that experience adds another useful voice to the conversation.
A good supplier should make the job easier
There are already enough people involved in delivering a home adaptation. The OT has their bit. Housing has theirs. Procurement has theirs. The contractor needs to get the job done. And the resident quite reasonably wants a bathroom they can actually use.
The supplier should not become another headache. That's why PROCare has spent 25 years building more of the service around the product... We survey. We draw. We specify. We manufacture. We hold stock. We deliver.
We do not install adaptations ourselves, but we work alongside the contractors who do and make sure they have the products, information and technical support needed to get the job done properly. Simon understands that world very well and he also knows housing and adaptations is a small industry.
25 years of PROCare and 26 years of Simon
The timing feels pretty fitting. PROCare is celebrating 25 years supporting accessible housing, bathrooms, wetrooms and home adaptations.
Simon arrives with 26 years of experience of his own and thousands of bathrooms behind him.
Now that knowledge can be used across everything from one difficult DFG adaptation to a national general needs bathroom programme, an adapted kitchen project or a property where the usual solution simply is not going to work.
There is plenty for him to get stuck into and after only a few weeks, he has already picked his first favourite product... Not bad going!
Quick questions about Simon and PROCare
What is Simon Thomas’s role at PROCare?
Simon Thomas is PROCare’s National Key Account Manager, working nationally with local authorities, housing associations, contractors, occupational therapists and other partners involved in accessible housing, bathrooms, kitchens and home adaptations.
What experience does Simon bring to accessible housing adaptations?
Simon brings 26 years of experience across bathrooms and home adaptations, including a long career with Geberit and extensive work with OTs, contractors, housing teams and end users.
What is Simon’s favourite PROCare product so far?
The PROLine basin. Simon likes the depth of the bowl because it gives people more usable washing space without necessarily needing a large basin, something he says is particularly important in smaller adapted bathrooms. His comments in the recording focus specifically on the practical problem of shallow basins and water ending up on the floor.
What does PROCare supply to the public housing sector?
PROCare supplies accessible and general needs bathroom, wetroom and kitchen solutions to housing associations, local authorities and contractors. This includes specialist adaptation products alongside standard bathroom and kitchen ranges, supported by surveying, CAD, specification, manufacturing, stockholding and national delivery.
Come along, ask the awkward questions, try the products and see what might
make your next adaptation that little bit easier.
01942 206004