Assist UK's Chief Executive

March 2011

2011-03-24T05:37:00.000-07:00

We are glad to see the back of the winter weather and are looking forward to spring and warmer weather. It has been a busy period for Assist with a lot of time being spent on our conference. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the exhibitors, many showed latest equipment and what's new in the market. We were fortunate enough to display a converted vehicle from Gowrings, great interest was shown in the new Dignity Commode from Gordon Ellis (Assist had some input into it's design), Accessible Travel showcased their new cruise service which can accommodate 10 wheelchair users to enjoy holidays exploring the river Rhine and waterways in Holland. All exhibitors promoted interest with lots of questions by attendees. The conference had a real buzz to the day.

Keynote Speaker, Stephen Thrower from DWP was well received and gave us an updated position on human rights. The highlight of the day with the audience was a presentation by an assistance dog at work especially the pictures of her at work emptying the washing machine!

The AGM gave a good opportunity for members to network and to be brought up to date with the affairs of Assist UK. The conference was a great success as we attracted 80 people on the day.

I am glad to inform you that we will be having a stand at Naidex on 5th, 6th and 7th April - if you are able to please come and have a chat with us on any of those days. At the exhibition Assist UK will be launching a new commercial website called Assist Direct.

We have now concluded the Malta contract and I gave a presentation at their conference watch out for the forthcoming newsletter for a full report and pictures.

On 26th January I attended the grand opening of the DLF new demonstration centre. They are showing some new exciting equipment and if you are in London it's really worth a visit.

Assist has had some recent success in obtaining some transition funding from the DOH to keep us a float until we change our financial footprint.

We are shortly going into our final year of the Mystery Shopping Project. Year two's report is being viewed by the Department of Health. We hope to be able to release it to you in the near future.

Thank you all for filling in the questionnaire. We are revisiting our Business Plan to take in your comments and wishes and we are aiming to get our next newsletter out April / early May. We will be staying in our Manchester offices for the foreseeable future which is Number 1, Portland Street, Manchester, M1 3BE - if you are ever in Manchester please call in and see us!!

We were contacted by some centres that had unspent budgets at the end of this financial year and asked for their subscription invoices to be sent early, we have adhered to their request and obviously early payment will help our cash flow problems.

Don't forget if you have any problems you can reach our team at the office on 0161 238 8776. Do not hesitate to call if we can help in anyway.

Alan Norton

Does Assist & it's member centres have a future?

2011-01-14T10:22:00.000-08:00

First of all, I would like to wish you all a very happy new year. As we move through January and brave the elements there is a picture emerging of challenges for Assist and its members. We have already had notification that 7 of our member centres are set to close by the end of the financial year due to loss of funding and support from their local councils. Others have advised us they are having to change their financial make-up, ie moving to retail, if they are to survive. When challenged the 'powers that be' give us the standard answer that funding and decision making is being devolved to Local Communities. Assist is lobbying the Government, but we need hard facts and as much information as we can get from our centres to give evidence based facts to portray the reality and consequences to disabled people.

With the move to personalisation and the reduction of statutory services there will be more reliance on local retailers. Assist is concerned whether they are 'fit for purpose' and we are working with the OFT (Office of Fair Trading) and undertaking mystery shopping to test the market.

I would like to say a big 'thank you' to those of you who have responded to our recent survey, and to those who haven't I would urge you to contact us via telephone or e-mail with your views and experiences.

On a more positive note we have 3 new members in Cheshire and several new Corporate members. I would like to take this opportunity of congratulating Bexley who have moved from Associate to Full membership. Their range of services and inclusion of disabled people into everyday activities is exemplary.

We still have places available at our forthcoming conference on 21st January at Gaydon Motor Museum, titled 'Human Rights/Disability Rights - Spot the Difference'. It is essentially a 'not to be missed' event, at a fascinating venue. Apart from our formal speakers there will be an opportunity to debate the issues surrounding the move to retail.

Even though there have been several cuts within the Department for Transport, we have been asked to continue our advice and support to the DPTAC Committee for another year. Unfortunately CABE has sufered major cutbacks but the work will carry on based from the Centre of Environmental Excellence.

I know it's difficult to take time away, but Assist needs you to support Regional Meetings. These are an essential networking opportunity and a means of closing ranks to address the critical situation we find ourselves in.

If you find you have 5 minutes I would love a 'phone call' to catch up. I look forward to hearing from you, and remember we always need articles for our magazine.

WIth best wishes for 2011.

Alan

My quote for the month is extracted from the recent 'White Paper' (Page 7 - 1.2) - "we are committed to an NHS that is available to all, free at the point of use, and based on need, not the ability to pay. We will increase health spending in real terms in each year of this parliament".

Festive Greetings

2008-12-02T07:37:00.000-08:00

Here we are again rapidly approaching the Festive Season. For most of my shopping I have taken the easy way out and used the internet, and on occasions taken the even easier option of leaving it to my wife!

One pre-Christmas present was a new electric shaver. It is a Philips Arcitec with a revolutionary design of multi-directional head which follows the contours of your face with the minimum amount of arm movement. A real benefit to those with limited upper body strength. Well done Phillips!

Life has been busy for all at Assist HQ, especially with our Conference at the beginning of November. The Team worked really hard and we have had very positive feedback.

Our connection with the Department of Transport led to a meeting at the DVLA in Swansea when we had discussions on the needs of driving instructors when training disabled customers. There appears to be a general lack of knowledge on hand controls and adaptions, and the requirements of disabled drivers. It appears it is often difficult to obtain driving tuition for people who need to use hand controlled vehicles. I am due to meet with the Driving Standards Agency in January 2009 to take this forward.

We are also working with one of the major airlines and a seating/hoist manufacturer on developing a new project to assist in transferring onto aircraft seats. Many disabled people have difficulty in this area. The prototype worked for me and I am no lightweight.

I was made very welcome at Swindon DLC AGM when I spoke on Transforming Community Equipment Services. I also met with colleagues at Exeter to discuss new ways of working with commissioners and retailers.

We are currently busy finishing off our applications for project funding from DoH Section 64 (now renamed Third Sector Investment Fund). We have made it through to the second round on two applications, one is called “Becoming Fit to Equip” where we are teaming up with Ricability to mystery shop the experiences of disabled people when changing prescriptions for assistive technology products through retailers. The second is called “Effective Consumerism in Assistive Technology” where we wish to arm the prospective disabled customer with knowledge before they are exposed to the High Street. I will keep you informed of progress.

These activities are just a snapshot of our current work at Assist UK.

The weeks leading into Christmas are busy with meetings to progress our work; these are Devices for Dignity, update meeting on Transforming Community Equipment Services with the DoH, meetings with OFT, the Department of Transport and Assistive Technology Information Network.

If you have any news, drop us an e-mail or give us a ring and we will feed it back into the network and share the information with our other members.

From myself and the Team at Assist UK, have a great Christmas and a happy, prosperous and healthy New Year.

Alan Norton
Chief Executive Officer

December 2008

Welcome to Guideposts in Witney

2008-07-21T06:50:00.000-07:00

Welcome to you all,

I am extremely pleased to announce the recent opening of our newest member centre, the Guideposts Independent Living Centre in Witney, Oxfordshire. The centre opened last Friday, 18th July with a chance to meet the staff and view the centre. Guideposts was officially opened by The Right Honourable David Cameron MP in the afternoon. Here at Assist UK we are hugely proud of the hard work and dedication that has gone into the opening, and wish to extend our sincere congratulations to the whole team and wish them well in all their current and future endeavours. We will be present to provide all support needed to ensure Guideposts can go from strength to strength. Guideposts will be our 60th member in the Assist UK network, and expands us to the largest we have been since our conception.

Once again, well done all those involved.

All the best,

Alan

NAEP Conference 2008 and the Norbreck Castle Hotel

2008-06-30T04:55:00.000-07:00

Welcome all,

Once again, the NAEP conference – this year entitled ‘Equipment to the People - A Prescription Revolution? – was held at the Norbreck Castle Hotel in Blackpool. In the course of the two day event, Blackpool managed to offer us a moment of sunshine before the rain came cascading down!

There is a certain irony for me as a wheelchair user, for such an event to take place in a venue with unfortunately poor accessibility. Without staff members to accompany me, getting through parts of the hotel where doors were barely big enough for me to pass through would have been nigh on impossible. My accessible room proved relatively painless although I could well imagine the potential retail profit to be made from someone access auditing the place to encourage the hotel to install spy holes at an accessible level, and coat hooks at a reachable height!

The subject under debate at the conference was the TCES programme and the retail model, which proved a topic able to in part to enflame opinion and to provoke discussion. Presentations abounded from retailers, community equipment service members and the Department of Health, all eager to play a part in the ongoing dialogue regarding the provision of equipment. The DoH is aware that retailers are not ready to provide the essential service needed for the retail model to work, and are in search of current retailers to take on the model. They have also created a financial structure which individual equipment service teams may use to foresee the positive benefits to be had from taking the model onboard; the National Catalogue is set to appear in the coming months.

Congratulations to all at NAEP for putting on such an engaging event and I look forward to the continued debate currently underway.

All the best,

Alan Norton

Naidex 2008

2008-05-16T01:18:00.000-07:00

Welcome all,

At the end of April, Assist UK was proud to participate in Naidex, the disability and rehabilitation exhibition at the NEC, Birmingham. On the opening day, I was invited to speak and take part in a panel discussion on the Retail Model alongside BHTA, College of Occupational Therapists and the Department of Health. Not only was this a prime opportunity for Assist UK to release its position statement on the model, but also for us to engage in the debate with our own distinct and unparalleled voice.The discussion was vigorous and animated with more than a few charged thoughts vocalised towards the panel members. Of course I am extraordinarily pleased that debates of this significance are beginning to take shape and influence the changing nature of the sector.

Wednesday saw the media launch of our Trusted Technician course created in partnership with Foundations, the home improvement agency.The course is designed to benefit all technical staff who recommend or carry out small repairs and adaptations within assistive technology designed to support older and disabled people in leading independent lives at home. It follows closely on from Assist UK's partnership with York St John University in creating the Training the Trainer course prior to the onset of Assist UK's Trusted Assessor courses rolling out at disabled living centres across the country.

With the advent of the Retail Model upon us and its inevitable impact upon all aspects of the disability world, we are faced with a challenge in which healthcare professionals, manufacturers, dealers and charitable institutions could all benefit from collectively uniting to guarantee older and disabled members of the public remain our focus whilst encouraging and supporting independent choice and living for all.

Until the next time,

Alan Norton

Virgin Trains meeting

2008-05-08T06:03:00.000-07:00

Welcome,

Transport and the inclusion of disabled passengers (or lack of) is one of the current topics of discussion here at Assist UK, and an area we hope to focus upon in upcoming articles in our next newsletter.

Following our meeting on 22nd April with Chris Hagyard, Franchise Manager for Virgin Trains – he is tasked with ensuring suitable arrangements are in place for disabled travellers - many positive responses were forthcoming. Virgin is excited to work with Assist UK to address problems regarding disabled customer service and assistance. The following is a list of priorities Virgin envisages should be implemented to ensure disabled access and assistance achieves the standard it should.

Virgin Trains are looking at marking platforms at major stations which will line up disabled coaches with marked areas at the station. Raised platforms would then be built-in at stations creating no need for manual ramps to be attached to the carriage.

In their next generation of trains, Virgin Trains is considering level access to ensure disabled passengers can board without ramp assistance.
Virgin is keen to retrain staff to be able to handle conflicts frequently arising from disabled spaces being utilised for luggage / prams etc. They are keen to put this in place by employing new signage next to disabled spacing emphasising the legal nature of this. Virgin is also keen to ensure staff are cognoscente with all needs disabled customers require while travelling.
Assist UK are also keen to review Virgin Trains’ internal training to see if we are able to contribute anything to enable their training to be more acutely aware of the differing needs of disabled passengers.

There was also discussion of Manchester Piccadilly Train Station’s disabled car parking bays being used by staff once their overflow car park is full. Although it doesn’t full under Virgin’s remit – Network Rail must hold their hands up here - they are devoted to ensuring stations work to the same standards of service that they do.

Of course, it isn’t only the privilege of Network Rail and its cohorts in proving hard to pin down to commitments regarding disabled people. The gamut of black taxis in the capital is proving resilient to respond to disabled travellers’ needs, as I witnessed last month on a number of occasions. Flagging down a taxi might well be easy, but getting one to stay still once the driver’s seen my wheelchair is somewhat harder! Leaving an event at Admiralty House and catching a taxi proved tricky, when the driver, cornered by my PA into taking us, opened up his boot to reveal more personal debris than the average charity shop. Hidden underneath the ruins lay his assistance ramp, obviously rarely considered as a necessity to be used. How we tackle a change of mentality to get taxi drivers to view wheelchair users, not as an inconvenience but in the same light as they do any other paying customer is another challenge we have for the future.

As a final note, I would like to pass on my thanks to all the Making the Links members who have emailed feedback to us to offer their own valuable feedback into this debate.

All the best,

Alan Norton

Rail Travel: Complaint to Virgin Trains

2008-03-18T08:13:00.000-07:00

Welcome,

I have decided to include a letter (see below) I wrote recently to Virgin Trains, detailing the levels of difficulty I often have in receiving assistance when travelling and the level of customer service offered. This letter was sent to both the Managing Director and the Chief Executive. Their response follows my own letter. I would encourage those of you who have experienced problems with assistance on Virgin Trains to address your concerns to Chris Hagyward, whose details may be found at the end of the response.

Chris Gibb
Managing Director
Virgin Trains
85 Smallbrook Queensway
Birmingham B5 4HA
21/02/08

Dear Chris Gibb

I am writing to you to complain about the general level of customer service currently offered to disabled customers on your West Coast Line between Manchester Piccadilly and London Euston. I am a regular user of Virgin Trains, as I commute frequently between Manchester and the capital, often on a multiple trip basis every week, and am also a wheelchair user. As the Chief Executive of a national disability organisation, responsible for overseeing the delivery of practical solutions for independent living, it troubles me to see the unexpectedly poor level of assistive service extended towards disabled people, in a time when it should be growing. As you will no doubt understand, it is of veritable importance that disabled people feel able to utilise all public services in the same manner as the able bodied. Following an ongoing catalogue of letdowns at both Manchester and London Euston, I have decided to write to you in the hope we can create a dialogue to improve platform and general assistance for disabled people.

Whenever I travel to London, I must telephone and book assistance a few days before the date of travel. This telephone call can often take between 15 and 20 minutes to complete. On the day of travel, I must arrive at least 30 minutes before the train is due to depart. May I remind you that a minimum of 24 hours is required to book assistance, automatically placing limitations on what should be an automatic, instilled sense of customer service and good will to all customers.

On Tuesday 19th February, I travelled on the 6.35 am train, arriving at Piccadilly at 6am. Despite presenting myself at the Customer Service desk alongside my PA, it wasn’t until 6.25am that we were able to board the train, which had been sitting on the platform for some time, other travellers boarding as they wished. I had to return to the desk a second time to ask for assistance, despite the generally better standard of assistance in Manchester as compared to London. Not only is it an inconvenience, but it is also cold waiting on a platform for me, when I have limited use of my body.

On arrival in London, my PA went to the carriage door to wait for assistance to arrive. Over ten minutes later, the train empty, we were still waiting. A member of the Virgin crew came through our carriage, and my PA spoke to him, explaining our need for ramp assistance to disembark the train. I regret to inform you the staff member was rude and disinterested, failing to even acknowledge the presence of my colleague. He did, quite rightfully, radio through for the assistance requested, but then walked away with not a single word exchanged. Shortly after the ramp arrived, we could depart the station to a taxi that had now been waiting over fifteen minutes, and to which I had to pay an additional waiting fee. Including booking tickets and assistance, the total amount of additional time at this juncture I have wasted due to my disability comes in to over an hour and a half. And I have yet to make the return journey.

On return to Euston in the afternoon, we arrived at the Customer Care desk to inform them that as we were early, we were going to depart on an earlier train, so to cancel the booked assistance and arrange assistance for the 15.05. It is unfortunate that, in my experience, the staff in Euston have never been particularly forthcoming or pleasant to deal with when asking for assistance and appear to view my request as an irritating interruption.
On the platform boarding both my PA and I realised, as I was travelling up the ramp, that it has not been securely attached to the carriage but rather propped against it. I am sure you will be cognoscente with the Health and Safety issues surrounding this breach.

On arrival back in Piccadilly, we once again went through the same wait for ramp assistance to leave the train. My PA went to the platform and spoke with a Virgin Trains staff member, who appeared to have just departed the same train. After asking for assistance, he was told rather abruptly “there was nothing to worry about as the train didn’t depart again until 17.15”. Why he would be under the impression we would have thirty minutes to spend sitting on an empty train is incomprehensible, notwithstanding the inherent disabilist attitude underlying such a statement.

When my PA informed him we were unwilling to wait, he retorted “someone will come along; they’re probably dealing with another train”. I fail to understand why there might only be one member of staff per station trained to operate ramps. I can only presume that these two members of staff were deviations from the usual standard of service you would expect from those who work for Virgin Trains.

Under your Disabled People’s Protection Policy, it states that your Assisted Person’s Reporting System provides the train manager of each Virgin train with details of all pre-reserved assistance and reserved accommodation. Bearing this in mind, I find it difficult to explain why, when assistance has been booked, we continually seem to encounter problems. I don’t believe disabled people should have to wait any longer to depart a train than anyone else, yet this seems to recurrently be the case when travelling via train.

I am happy to report that the staff in Manchester are, more often than not, considerate and content to offer assistance. Having always been able to rely on the high quality of service there, I am disappointed it has yet managed to spread further afield.

Under Section 2.1 of your policy, it states Virgin Trains ‘will continually strive to deliver a high standard of care to all our customers’ yet I am not the only disabled person to have come into contact with the aforementioned customer assistance issues. As the Chief Executive of many Disability Living Centres across the UK, as a member of the Department of Transport’s Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee, and as a regular consort to Ivan Lewis, Minister of Care Services, I would like you to provide me with an explanation for decreasing level of service with which I can present to my colleagues in the sector.

I would be happy to meet with you and discuss the issues raised in this letter; were you to require advice I would also be happy to provide you with details of Trusted Assessor courses we are about to unveil, to train staff to deal effectively with disabled people and understand their needs more fully, and to help you raise your own policy standards to bring you up to full compliance with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act. I am also sending a copy of this complaint letter to Tony Collins, Chief Executive, to garner his thoughts; I look forward to hearing from you in due course.

Yours sincerely,

Alan Norton

Virgin Trains response: 11th March 2008

Dear Mr Norton

Thank you for your letter dated 21 February to which Chris Gibb has asked me to reply.

Your comments concerning our performance in respect of providing assistance to customers with special needs are noted.

It perhaps goes without saying that the two examples you outlined in your letter highlight the need for a concerted effort by all rail companies to ensure we do our very best to deliver the service efficiently.

I believe that generally we do achieve the targets that are outlined in out Disabled Person’s Protection Policy in respect of meeting disabled passengers at terminal stations within 10 minutes of arrival. I recognise that in an ideal world there would be no wait at all, however factors can sometimes prevent us from achieving this. Of course, doesn’t excuse the apparent disinterest shown by some members of our team and I will take this up with the relevant managers.

I should point out that the station assistance at London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly is contracted out to Network Rail to provide on our behalf and we regularly review their performance at meetings with them. Of course, our on board crews are asked to provide appropriate assistance to complement this.

I am disappointed that you believe that there has been a fall in the level of service that we provide and I have been discussing your concerns with our Franchise Manager. I recognise that there are always lessons that can be learned and we are always happy to take on board suggestions from our customers but I remain satisfied that as a general rule the JourneyCare arrangements work smoothly.

Finally, if you believe it would be helpful to meet our Franchise Manager, who is tasked with ensuring suitable arrangements are in place for disabled travellers, his name is Chris Hagyard, and he may be contacted by email on Chris.Hagyard@virgintrains.co.uk, or by telephone on 0121 654 7065.

Yours sincerely

Alan Robey
Chief Executive’s Office

2008-03-12T03:33:00.000-07:00

Welcome back,

The past week has been hectic yet ultimately fulfilling one. Last Monday I attended a meeting in Liverpool with Lesley-Anne Alexander, the Chief Executive of RNIB. For those of you who are unaware of shared space schemes, it is the semi pedestrianisation of town centres which removes pavement edges, making it ideal for the wheelchair user, but a nightmare for those who use canes! The opportunity to resolve the conflict in the AT needs for people with vision impairment and wheelchair users with regards to shared spaces must be attacked first hand so local councils will learn to address these issues effectively and with haste.The meeting went well; it was great to hear what fantastic work the RNIB have and are undertaking in the field of AT, and how we could work together to promote the manufacture of solution orientated products in the future. I’ve been invited to Peterborough to see the RNIB’s key production service area, and to meet with the principal sales manager there. I’m eager to discuss products, sales placing, etc, and gather guidance and information on how we, as AT centres can display more effectively in our own demonstration suites.

Tuesday saw me in Coventry attending the Health Design Technology Institute Steering group meeting, in conjunction with Coventry University. We’ve established close links with Coventry University who have recently been awarded European funding to build a research complex to develop AT products that are user led. Proctor & Gamble gave a fascinating presentation on marketing solutions for products, which I hope to be able to share with you all. One issue we intend to concentrate on is to user operated hoist equipment which would provide an invaluable independence to many disabled people. I believe our Making the Links volunteers will be invaluable in helping to develop the missing solutions in daily AT care.

For the rest of the week, I was in London. On Wednesday I was invited to an AT Care Launch at the House of Commons, hosted by Dr Howard Stoate MP. Unfortunately, a road traffic accident on the M1 led to a three hour standstill, preventing me from attending; what a shame we have yet to design an AT device to reduce traffic congestion!

Access is certainly improving in the hotel industry in London, but proves rather useless if the door to your room is too heavy to open! Unless one is able to master a shoulder charge technique! And the most ill designed toilet roll holder I’ve ever come across – impossible to get the paper out, and to operate with one hand – all in an accessible room. I have fed back to the hotel, and they assured me my views would be taken into consideration.

I met with Keren Downs from FAST to discuss the implementation of a joint Section 64 funding bid to help train users in assistive technology. I am excited by the opportunity to bring user contribution into the development of training programmes, and to promote partnership working as a thing of our collective future. Sharing knowledge, resources and skills can only further the united aspirations and ambitions of us all.

On Thursday, Baroness Andrews OBE hosted the launch of Papworth Trust’s ‘Guide to Delivering Inclusive Communities’ at Admiralty House. Following speeches by Baroness Andrews, Chief Executive Adrian Bagg and an end service user – a moving speech on the benefits and effects of accessibility and how it has changed his life - I spent some time discussing inclusivity with Adrian, and our hopes for new communities to be built around accessibility for all, not only disabled people, alongside the importance of specialised training for their own membership. I will be sending a copy of the guide to all our members once I have received them from the Trust.

Friday heralded a Blue Badge consultation meeting with the Disabled People’s Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC), concentrating on how to control misuse of the scheme, the implications of its current role and how electronics and AT could play a part in it’s future. With our connections at the Department for Transport, Assist UK has the opportunity to ‘fly the flag’ for disabled people, and all those that use our centres.

So, until next week,

Alan Norton

Welcome to the Assist UK's Chief Executive Blog

2008-02-22T03:53:00.001-08:00

Welcome,

This is the first post in what will be a regularly updated posting from me, Alan Norton, to keep all the member centres of Assist UK, disabled people, and other interested parties informed of my ongoing duties and undertakings as Chief Exec of Assist UK. In addition to the new Assist UK website, I look forward to using the blog as a way of receiving feedback, and welcome comments and thoughts from you all, to help further communication between those of us working within the sector wishing to affect change.

I would like to draw your attention to this week’s e-Update which details the Commission for Social Care Inspection report released in January, following concerns Assist UK had already brought to the attention of Ivan Lewis, Minister for Care Services last December. Visit www.csci.org.uk for the report.

I wish to extend my thanks to Stephen Brooks, a member of Assist UK's Making the Links, for his written contribution to my online profile.

Alan Norton