Comment: The valuable role of The Wheelchair Alliance in helping to drive change
The Wheelchair Alliance plays a valuable role in representing wheelchair users and ensuring they get the right chair for them when they need it, as Andrew Stevenson explains…
The Wheelchair Alliance is a Community Interest Company which represents the community of wheelchair users in England. It was established in 2023, when a revamp and re-invigoration of the previous Wheelchair Working Group was requested by NHS England.
Within this restructure, the British Healthcare Trade Association (BHTA) was asked to nominate an individual who would sit on the management board of the Wheelchair Alliance, to represent the views and interests of member companies involved in the supply of products and services to the Wheelchair Sector, to avoid any commercial conflict of interest, I was asked as President of the BHTA, to take up this voluntary position, and did so in early 2023.
The Management Board is made up of a diverse range of members, including wheelchair providers, representatives from the public, private and charity sectors and wheelchair users.
Alongside the Board, there are working groups being formed to drive other key topics forward, such as innovation and the use of new technology.
As the Alliance moves through this year other specialists within the wheelchair sector will be called upon to bring their skills and knowledge forwards, so that the main driver of the Alliance, which is ‘to provide the right chair, at the right time, right now,’ can be achieved more times than currently.
Driving change
In May 2022 the Alliance produced its first research report, sponsored by the charity Motability, which oversees the Motability Scheme, which explores what actively influences wheelchair service tenders, acknowledged best practices, and discusses ways of improving oversight, data and equitable provision.
This report produced some significant interest and engagement activity across the sector, and in December 2023, the Alliance’s second report on the true value of increased investment in wheelchairs, showed a societal return of up to £315 million in savings being released back into the NHS.
The detail in these reports is the best the sector has seen in decades. The Wheelchair User Engagement Group is now some 145,000 members-strong, and the aim is to expand this into a National Advisory Board with representation on the Alliance Board and Quality Framework Group.
Plans are well advanced for an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) to be formed for wheelchair provision, led by the Alliance and supported by Whizz Kidz, the UK charity for young wheelchair users, to further drive the Alliance message into Government and Stakeholder groups.
Working Group
Joining the Wheelchair Alliance Working Group provides members with direct links and access to the key areas that the Alliance will be developing in 2024.
The two-way flow of information, experience, and future planning is crucial to the health and development of the Alliance. It is vital that the voices of wheelchair service providers are heard and their skills, experience and knowledge are represented in the ongoing development of wheelchair provision in the country.
The link that the BHTA has with the Wheelchair Alliance is a strong and effective one. The voice of our members with their experience and skill in providing best in class products and services will now be heard. BHTA members account for over 40 per cent of wheelchair service provision in England, and over 80 per cent of the product lines provided to wheelchair users.
At the BHTA, members are currently working on quality and best practice frameworks, and its paper Lithium Battery Safety Guidance generated a lot of interested when it was distributed across the Wheelchair Alliance network.
Its members have also been supporting an Innovation Special Interest Group which aims to fast-track innovation on products or services that better impact the user experience and value.
The BHTA has also launched a Retailer Engagement Group to bring this key aspect of wheelchair provision into the Alliance. These companies supply and support significant numbers of users, and can greatly impact on the development of a best in class service across the country.
The Alliance needs to increase awareness of its work, to ensure that all wheelchair users and their families and care networks know that we are here to get their voice across. The recent reports produced by the Alliance have a 10-point Action Plan and these will be further expanded and developed in 2024.
All this of course costs money, and funding of the Alliance is a vital component that the BHTA is supporting through its members. The steps that I have seen taken in the last 18 months have been amazing. After years of neutrality, the voice of the wheelchair user is now at the forefront of the Wheelchair Alliance’s mission statement.
If we as an industry are to see a more efficient, stronger, more innovative, professional and caring provision of products and services in future years, we have to work hand-in-hand with all stakeholders. We have the ability to substantially impact the future provision of wheelchairs to the most important piece of this chain – the user. The right chair at the right time, right now must be the norm.
Companies working in the mobility and access sector can join the Wheelchair Alliance Working Group by making contact with me by calling 07720 936770 or emailing grosvenorhealthcare@gmail.com.
Andrew Stevenson sits on the Management Board of the Wheelchair Alliance. He is President of the BHTA, and also owns a specialist healthcare consultancy business, having worked for the last 25 years in board and senior management roles across the healthcare sector. Andrew also represents the BHTA on the NHS GS1 Barcode Working Group.
