Theresa Hodges, Clinical Lead in Ashford 

Theresa, an Occupational Therapist (Clinical Lead), recently visited the Ashford Service Centre to discuss her career and future hopes and aspirations for the Wheelchair Service. With over 30 years of experience in the caring industry, Theresa has a wealth of knowledge and expertise. She began her career as a care worker in the care industry, moving onto social service for 10 years, where she helped set up enablement services, promoting independence and cost-effective care for service users. In 2010 she transitioned to working as a specialist OT in care homes, focusing on equipment of those with complex needs. Following this, Theresa was approached to support the wheelchair service, where she now serves as Clinical Lead for the Ashford Service Centre.    

The Ashford Service Centre is the main Hub for all deliveries for Kent and Medway. The Clinical team is comprised of Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Registered Staff Members, and a Medical Secretary. This is also the main service centre for Customer Service and Rehabilitation Engineers. The team works together to ensure the best outcomes for service users. Theresa is proud of her team, with most of them having been with the service for a significant amount of time. Theresa explained that their dedication and compassion has helped the service through challenging times.  

Looking towards the future, Theresa hopes to see a decrease in waiting lists and open referrals, with the team working towards meeting the wheelchair service contract requirements whilst delivering a successful service. The wheelchair service contract department has identified areas of improvement that have been already been implicated, including informative assessment forms to ensure service users' lived experience is captured. Theresa said her goal is for everyone to come to work, meet the demands of the service, and leave with a sense of pride and fulfilment while delivering the right wheelchair at the right time for our service users.   

Nicky Parker, Customer Service Administrator in Gillingham 

I have worked for the Wheelchair Service since 1993, and the role I currently hold is Customer Service Administrator in Gillingham.

It is probably the role I have enjoyed the most over the past 35 years. Mainly because I really love meeting and speaking to the clients who come in and build up a special rapport with them, checking them in and out and making sure they are ok but most of all is seeing the difference from when they come in on a stretcher and go out in a wheelchair which makes them very happy.

My day starts by ensuring everything is in place for a smooth-running clinic particularly making sure therapists are supported and ready to go. Of course, we always have at least one to two clients coming in on G4S transport which needs a lot of patience in getting their homeward journeys sorted out and hoping that they don’t have to wait too long.

In between all of this, I upload the majority of the referrals, so there’s always a lot to onboard. We also receive a lot of queries and repairs which come in via email and these all need answering, researching, or passing on to the correct persons for whom they are meant. Service users who do not attend (DNA ) and /or Unable to attend (UTA) are recorded daily, and unfortunately, we see too many of these.

I’ve always believed the ability to mobilise freely is critical to any individual's independence, both emotional and physical and I love the fact that every day I play a part in helping disabled people achieve this