Toilets for public use matter to everybody

Mike Hedges – MS for Swansea East

Public Toilets are very important to people with medical conditions, pregnant women, and the elderly. The reduction in numbers of public toilets over recent years is very regrettable and has a major effect on the lives of many people.

Age Cymru research has shown that up to half of older people consider whether public toilets were available before they decided to go somewhere.

Isolated

That may not stop all those people from going out but if   it only stops a small proportion out of 600,000 older people, it is a lot of people who will feel isolated and struggle to access vital services if toilets are not available.

Toilets are not hugely expensive to operate but they are just one of those discretionary services that local authorities provide and in very challenging times when they are looking to make savings wherever they can public toilets can be closed.

List

As chair of the cross-party group on age and ageing I believe that in any civilized society older people should have easy access to public toilets.

A lack of public toilets leaves older people feeling isolated as they choose to stay at home, rather than meeting with friends and family.

Some progress has been made in getting organisations and commercial operators such as shops and pubs to make their toilet facilities available to the public but there is no easily accessible register or list available for people to check where toilet facilities are available to the wider public.

I hope that the Welsh Government will work with local government and voluntary sector groups to produce such a list of non public sector toilets available to the public which will be a significant aid to people who suffer from certain medical conditions. I recently asked the Welsh government for a statement about toilets that are available to the public.

It is not just about public toilets or public buildings with available toilets but about toilets that are available and businesses that are prepared to make their toilets available.

These need to be identified so that members of the public know where they are. Available toilets are important not just to older people, pregnant women, and those suffering with Crohn’s disease, but also for coeliacs and those suffering from inflammatory bowel disease. Whilst council-run toilets have reduced, the need for toilets has not.

Crucial

The Welsh Government agreed that toilets available to the public are crucially important for all generations and in all communities.

I think that we now need to have, with local government, a refreshed approach to this in terms of business and public facilities on the streets. Under the Public Health (Wales) Act 2017 each local authority within Wales is required to publish a local toilets strategy.

The information for the National Toilet Map layer is provided by individual local authorities. For queries regarding the public toilets within the map layer people need to contact the relevant local authority.

No one should be stopped from social activities and health visits due to a shortage of toilets. Toilet availability is very important for everyone who travels and visits towns, villages, and tourist attractions.

Toilets for public use matter to everybody and remain a high-profile issue. They are, however, even more important to certain groups within society, including older people, people with disabilities, people with particular needs (including certain medical problems), women, children and young people and their families.

These groups can be disproportionately affected by poor provision, for example, poor provision is understood to have particular negative impacts on older people, as some may be less likely to leave their homes without having confidence that adequate facilities will be available to them.

This can contribute to increased social isolation and inactivity, as well as affecting people’s ability to maintain independence and dignity in later life.