A woman who cares for her fiance who lives with Parkinson’s disease has praised the impact a new bed has had on their lives.

Sue Mills and James Mitchell recently had the bed provided for them by the Dream Catcher charity after a hospital bed proved impractical.

Mr Mitchell, a retired teacher who was head of science at St Ninian’s High School, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s almost 20 years ago. Since then his condition has deteriorated.

To make life easier, the couple moved to a new home in Onchan where, despite making improvements to the house for Mr Mitchell, his bed proved problematic.

Miss Mills, who is head of music at The Buchan School, said: ’We moved here a year and a half ago and were provided with a hospital bed for James, but that didn’t work so it had to go back.

’I remembered seeing this bed a while ago that I thought would help but it cost a lot of money.

’It was recommended that we apply to the Dream Catcher charity, so I applied and we waited for them to let us know if it had been accepted and when they told us it had, I burst into tears.’

Using a remote control, the bed can be rotated 45 degrees and tilted up into a chair-like position which makes it easier for Mr Mitchell to be helped out of bed.

Mr Mitchell said: ’I’m impressed by how much it can move and it has helped as before I couldn’t get in or out of bed easily. The only issue is that I can’t use the controller. It has to be done by a carer but I’m still getting used to it and it has made a difference.’

Miss Mills said that while the bed aids Mr Mitchell’s Parkinson’s and has improved their lives, she believes offering them more widely to people who have different disabilities could make a big difference and would be most cost effective for the Department of Health.

She said: ’I’ve had paramedics out before to help me help James out of bed and he used to need two carers but with this.

’It just needs one and even the carers from the department have seen and agreed with the benefits.

’It is more expensive in the short term, but the value to our lives and the cost savings on staff in the long term are obvious, it should be available to everyone.’