It’s great to be able to talk here and reflect on what was achieved during those early days when the Wheelchair Alliance was formed a decade ago.
At the very start, I was the lead from NHS Improving Quality (NHSIQ) responsible for initially establishing the campaign for better wheelchair services. At the time, NHSIQ was the improvement arm of NHS England and my role was as the clinical director there.
We knew that attempts had previously been made over many years to improve wheelchair services but with slow progress. It was while I was on a train journey that I met Baroness Tanni Grey Thompson and the conversation we had stayed with me. So, when we were considering our priorities the senior team at NHSIQ felt a new approach could be tried to see if we could move forward this national issue.
The approach? To create a movement, to facilitate bringing people together, involve people of influence and drive change faster and further.
My role as the lead from NHSIQ was mainly one of facilitation, raising the profile of the Alliance while bringing interested people together to create energy and enthusiasm that could then take on a life of its own after we withdrew.
Although at the time we didn’t have the resource to maintain this input, the real value of a movement is to use the knowledge, expertise and energy of people close to the issue to take it forward. Therefore, I was delighted when Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson agreed to chair the Alliance. We needed someone with influence, standing and authority and who understood the value and power of a movement to influence and accelerate change.
During my time with the Alliance, I also wrote the foreword for the e-Digest: My Voice, My Wheelchair, My Life, which looked at the current state of wheelchair services in England in relation to people with complex and changing needs, and its impact upon people’s lives and health, care and voluntary services.
As the movement was developing, I learnt so much more about the crazy challenges the system set wheelchair users, especially in relation to the standard issue of ‘affordable’ wheelchairs. There were kids unable to sit at the dinner table with their families; wheelchairs limiting mobility in and out of their homes; limitations to the quality of life and freedom most people take for granted; and the harm that badly fitting wheelchairs caused. There was also a lack of a person-centred approach to wheelchair fitting alongside a lack of flexibility to their provision.
Not long after the Wheelchair Alliance was established, NHSIQ was disbanded and it was no longer possible for me to be involved. However, I have remained a keen onlooker and have observed the progress made.
The ambition and energy I see on social media is great although I understand that there is still much to do.
My hope is that the enthusiasm and the commitment I’ve seen will continue to push further positive change.
Professor Moira Livingstone, former NHSIQ clinical director
