Kieron J. Slocombe, Managing Director of R82 UK Ltd, talks to On Target about his working life.
Who are your target customers and how do you reach them?
We distribute equipment for disabled children, manufactured by our parent company in Denmark, to children and their families in the UK through social services, health and education.
Our target customers are care professionals who work with children and families; families and non-professional carers; and children themselves. We provide people who are trained in the use of the equipment and can work with professionals to provide a solution for a particular child and family that enhances their lifestyle and wellbeing.
We have an innovative and upbeat website. Most of our outward showing to our customers is done via specialist exhibitions. We would normally attend Naidex in Birmingham and the Kidz Up North, South and In the Middle exhibitions, and the professional conferences for the Association of Paediatric Therapists and the College of Occupational Therapy. We also have nine product representatives in the field, visiting venues, schools and children's centres.
What does your working week usually consist of? What challenges do you face?
These days a lot of my working time is taken up with keeping ahead of Government changes in direction of funding, health and safety and personnel legislation. Whereas I might have spent a lot more time in the past leading the company in the field, now I find myself directing the company by ensuring that we are ahead of our competition.
My job is to further the company nationally, and to aid our company as an international group for direction in certain areas. I obviously have to keep on top of funding issues in this time of global recession, and a lot of my time is taken up with competitor, product and market analysis.
Paediatric equipment is an underfunded area, and much time has recently been spent making sure the voice of industry is heard through the BHTA. A recent charity study found that on average £30 is spent per annum on the provision of special disability equipment by statutory services (Newlife Foundation 2007). The Government has announced changes to try and improve that, but it appears some of the money has been ring-fenced towards education and electric power chairs. Maybe it's not always recognised that disabled children don't only need electric power chairs: they need to be able to stand, walk, sit, talk and sleep.
The three main funding sources for equipment are social services, education and health. There's great variation between these departments and between postal areas. Indeed, in some cases families with disabled children will move across a county line into another postcode area to obtain a better level of funding. The professionals we work with are extremely good at their jobs, but they come under a constant barrage of funding pressures that takes up an inordinate amount of their time.
How is the market for assistive technologies for children and young people in the UK changing?
About five years ago, we had a Government initiative called Integrating Community Equipment Services (ICES). That has since given way to Transforming Community Equipment Services (TCES). In both of these initiatives there has been very little provision for children. At the moment, the DOH is working on a TCES platform for children - but how that will come to fruition is another matter. Very little information is available at this point in time. While the NHS suppliers are able to tell you how many wheelchairs or seating systems were bought for adults by the NHS in previous years, when asked the same question about children they currently have very little information on record.
Some of the greatest changes have been in the perceptions and understanding over the past decade about what to fund for whom and at what age. Ten years ago children under five would normally have had a buggy issued to them; but now they often have a wheelchair with supportive seating issued, because the need for that is recognised in some cases. Also, where previously we would normally have seen children aged a year and a half to two years old, now we're seeing children as young as six months old for assistive equipment. It's recognised that they need that support much earlier.
In terms of statutory funding, just about every area funds toileting and bathing equipment for disabled children. Then seating may be the next most purchased item, or wheelchairs; and then way down the scale come walking and standing. It depends on the budgets per area - and with so many unitary authorities and so many different sets of rules, funding is sporadic.
Kieron J. Slocombe