MP for Shipley, Philip Davies said that the charity afforded opportunities that transformed lives. Businesses should pursue an agenda that empowered disabled customers not only because it was the right thing to do, but because it made good business sense, he said. Shops and stores that improved matters for people with a disability improved matters for everybody, he added.
He told the audience he had found the price of disabled equipment “eye-watering” and felt that companies were profiteering from the fact that people with disabilities had no choice as to whether or not they had to buy it.
Baroness Julia Cumberlege CBE, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Health Group, said that Whizz-Kidz provided a service that nobody else did. A powered wheelchair empowered its user, she said.
Personal budgets represented a “true innovation”, said Cumberlege and she called for the NHS should be “much more receptive to… partnerships” with charities like Whizz-Kidz.
Ruth Owen OBE, chief executive, Whizz-Kidz, said that she wanted choice, competition in the NHS, and freedom for disabled children.
She said it was “hugely difficult” to change a wheelchair and in 2013, Whizz-Kidz had helped make 4,000 people become independent, including children from very disadvantaged families. The NHS had to deliver the WhizzKids model and standards, she argued.
The supply chain in wheelchairs had had a monopoly for many years, said Owen, and now, with the support of Tesco, it was possible to drive prices down.
The NHS needed to procure in a more effective and efficient way, Owen argued, and a system of customer rate and review would provide the critical evidence that was necessary to drive change in the state sector.
Tim Mason, managing director, Sun Capital Partners, explained that Whizz-Kidz had been the Tesco charity of the year, a staff fundraising scheme, in 2006 and had raised £3.6m. Subsequently, Tesco had provided 540 work placements, meeting spaces, and other services in relation to their work. Tesco had now decided to help in the supply chain, he went on.
Telling the audience of his personal experiences Daniel Miller, Whizz-Kidz beneficiary, explained that he had found the NHS consultation process “very lengthy”.
While he had been measured for his NHS wheelchair, he could not self-propel it or go up kerbs.
Wheelchairs helped people socially as well as medically, said Miller. In his case, the right wheelchair had meant he had not needed a spinal rod operation, saving the NHS expense. At the same time, the right wheelchair had allowed him to attend university. Better wheelchair provision would allow disabled people to contribute to society, he argued.
Whizz-Kidz had also assisted with training programmes and a work placement scheme, said Miller.
Question and answer session
Although government had been willing to listen to evidence regarding the cost-saving aspect of correct wheelchair provisions, said Owen, it had not been received well by the NHS.
Keira Lawrence from Mencap asked how the government could ensure that the right support was delivered to children with learning disabilities. Cumberlege agreed that the application of pressure was “terribly important”.
Davies said that the government should “ask the people who knew and then deliver on their feedback”.
Responding to Liz Needleman from Business in the Community, Davies said that, in establishing its flagship disability store in Swindon, Asda had recruited disabled staff in order to provide the best service to the disabled customer. Everyone had taken up the offer to learn sign language, he said. Companies that employed people with disabilities should be offered tax breaks, he said, and the zero tax charge on disability products should be better publicised.
Discussing the speed of change, Owen said that there was a culture within the NHS that was opposed to change. The messages were right and the model worked. A national tariff to remove the inequalities in provision was close, she said, and the most powerful incentive would be the voice of the customer.