National Wheelchair Managers Forum
Chairman’s report 2013 – 2014
Hello and Welcome to the National Wheelchair Managers Forum, Annual General Meeting. This is the first time this group has carried out the AGM in this way, so I hope you all find it of interest and bear with us, if it doesn’t quite go to plan.
Since the last AGM in July 2013, the Forum has met 3 times, in July at Bristol to coincide with the Posture & Mobility Group’s TrainingEvent, in October at Leeds at the Otto Bock premises and in January at Stoke Mandeville Spinal Injuries unit, hosted by Gerald Simmonds.
It has been another busy year with some key developments taking place:-
Naidex
Following my presentation at Naidex last year, meetings have been held with the organisers inviting NWMF to be involved with Naidex, with a view to setting up a long term working relationship to raise the profile of NHS Wheelchair Service Providers and offer a greater opportunity and relevance for wheelchair professionals and suppliers to attend the exhibition.
It was agreed to carry out 2 presentations, one of a clinical nature and one addressing a managerial topic.
Inclusion, Independence and Choice
I was also approached by the organisers of another show, called Inclusion, Independence and Choice, to deliver a presentation at this show in Manchester in February.
In order to address both these shows and presentations a small working group met and agreed the format for both events, with the presentation being jointly carried out by myself and Yvonne Baron.
Therapist Competencies
It has been good to see that a major piece of work for the NWMF is reaching completion this year with the publication of Therapist Competencies– this has been 3 years of hard work for the core group developing these, namely Claire Watt, Sue Cobby and Elaine Coope. The Therapist Foundation and Draft Assistant competencies are on the website, and following today the Intermediate and Advanced Therapist’s paperwork will also be available on our website to download.
I wish to give my thanks to Claire, Sue and Elaine for all their hard work and we will be elaborating further on the development and content of the competencies later this afternoon in the Multidisciplinary Theatre.
Web Site
The website continues to be developed and I wish to thank Ian Sherwood for ensuring it is kept up to date and is fit for purpose, which is no mean feat. The Directory of Services continues to be a challenge as services change, Ian is dependent on services updating the information with any changes in a timely manner. So I would urge any of you to check the entry for your local service and update as appropriate, as we need to be sure the general public and professionals are supplied with the correct information.
Consideration is being given to requests received from companies wishing to add a link to the NWMF website – this will continue to be a topic for discussion in the coming year.
Links to the wheelchair training videos on You Tube have been included on the web site, and I would like to thank Sam Sterling from Leeds Wheelchair Service for producing and sharing these with us.
A Members page has also been developed so that ongoing work can be shared and commented on, in between the meetings, this is relatively new and we should see the impact of this in the coming year.
There are around 4/5 enquiries a week from the general public, and these have been analysed with the most frequently asked questions being developed into a Frequently Asked Question document available on the web site
Any Qualified Provider and Specialist Commissioning
Continued to be a topic for discussion culminating in a change of direction by NHS England in that commissioners were no longer required to implement AQP with regard to Wheelchair Services as Wheelchairs were being ‘decoupled’ from the AQP process.
The Review of Specialist Commissioning
This became an overriding concern as the majority of services benchmarked were delivering locally based special seating services and other services which previously would have been under the definition of Specialist. Opinion was divided about whether this is a good thing, some believe that being in CCG’s would be the better option as this could reduce the impact of smaller District Services being swallowed upby huge regional services, and others believed that if services go to CCG’s it will end in going back to AQP and remain a postcode lottery.
Officers from the Department of Health and the Clinical Reference Group met with NWMF to discuss these issues and attempted to produce a definition of ‘complex’ in relation to Wheelchair Services with little success. Ultimatelyit looks like Wheelchair Services are coming out of specialist commissioning.
Tariffs/Reference Costs
Was also discussed, following a procurement project launched by the Department of Health with the ensuing concern that the proposed tariffs may be unworkable. Discussions with NHS England continue with the offer of assistance in producing realistic figures.
Military Veterans
And the future provision of their wheelchairs and seating became a cause for concern following the government’s additional funding commitment for prosthetics. Discussions are ongoing with NHS England to acknowledge the anomalyin provision for prosthetics against the provision of high specification wheelchairs and how this can be continued when ex-servicemenreturn to their home district. This is also being supported by the All ParliamentaryLimb loss Group. This is work in progress.
Community Equipment Code Of Practice
Having been approached by Brian Donnelly, the forum has agreed to work with him to produce a Code of Practice for Wheelchair Services, similar to the one already produced for Community EquipmentServices. This will enhance our previous work which resulted in the standards document for wheelchairservices.
Training
Is another area which will be being developed on the back of the competency documents in collaboration with Posture & Mobility Group, with the discussions being at a very early stage at this point.
Other Areas where NWMF have been involved are:-
Chair 4 Life
Following myinvolvementon the selection panelawarding the design project of Chair for Life to the Renfrew Group, this piece of work has been completed and is on display at the DesignMuseum in London, where it has been put forward as a contender for Design of the Year.
WheelSAS Stakeholder Group
NWMF has been part of the Stakeholder Group for a project developing an electronic stability ramp, bringing 3 designs from Wales, the West Midlands and London into one product. This piece of work has now been completed and the commercial opportunitiesfor the final device, Wheel Sense,are being discussed.
Meeting regarding EPIOC and Epilepsy
I had been invited to a meeting in Glossop regarding the issue of power chairs to those with epilepsy. It was agreed that the initial 1996 guidance is the only guidance availableand most services use their clinicaljudgment whilst interpreting the guidelines.It was agreed that any concerns with regard to epilepsy should be discussed at MDT level to ensure a full risk assessment is completed and a decision made in the best interests of the user.
And lastly, but certainly not least I would like to thank all the members of the NWMF who attend the meetings and contribute to many lively discussions. A special thank you to all those people who have willingly involved themselves in the more demanding projects and presentations. A huge thanks to Alex, as secretary, without whom I would be at a complete loss.
And an extra special thank you to Jan Smith, who worked at Newcastle Wheelchair Service, and has served as the Forum Treasurer since its inception back in the 90’s. She has kept us on track, with minimal fuss and maximum commitment, and she will be sorely missed.
Thank you.
Krys Jarvis
Chair. NWMF.
29th April 2014