Richard Hammond is Clinical Lead for the NHS Wheelchair and Repair Service in West Hampshire, Southampton and Isle of Wight

An update from Richard...

It has been an extremely busy year so far. We have a fully staffed clinical team, which means we are maximising our clinical capacity.

As well as our service centre-based clinics, we run specialist clinics at Peartree House, Fryers House and several schools on the mainland and the Isle of Wight.

We have been fortunate to run the external prescriber training this year, and are hopeful that we will be able to continue to do so.

About Richard

“I have worked in Wheelchair Services on and off for the last 12+ years having originally joined the then NHS Solent Wheelchair Service based at Portsmouth. Since then I have been Clinical Lead when Millbrook took over the contract in 2014 and also with AJM Healthcare when Portsmouth was commissioned in its own right. I have been Clinical Lead at the Hampshire and IoW service based in Chandlers Ford for the last 3 ½ years.

My working life started very differently in Banking, Insurance, and IT however that all changed when I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and after being unable to work for several years decided on a new direction. I started my OT degree at Southampton University a week before my 40th Birthday and have never looked back.

Since qualifying I have worked in Social Services, Environmental Controls, Adult Rehabilitation, Specialist Neuro Rehab, Older Adults Mental Health but my real passion is in Wheelchair Services. 

I myself was a wheelchair user for almost a year after my diagnosis and as such I have a unique perspective and understanding of what our service users may be experiencing when they are referred to us.

I consider myself lucky to be part of a strong team of clinicians, engineers, customer service and logistics staff who really do work as a team. I work very closely with Operations Manager Paul Jewell and collectively, the service is bringing down waiting times, improving service delivery and improving the overall service user experience. Additionally, we now have regular student placements, specialist school clinics, residential placement clinics and have relaunched our prescriber training programme. 

Going forward we are looking to further reduce our waiting lists and continue to deliver the best service possible to our service users.

Outside of work my wife Linda and I love to travel and have visited China, Egypt, USA as well as many European countries. We have more recently got in to cruising and so far have visited Scandinavia and the Baltics. We’ll be heading to Alaska and Canada later this year but have our sights set on South and Central America, Japan and New Zealand. 

We enjoy walking with our cocker spaniel Jascal, gardening, board games, online computer games and I have a passion for collecting Lego – particularly Star Wars, Marvel and Harry Potter!”