2020 Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Awards

26 GHP / 2020 Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Awards , Wheel of Health Limited Leading Specialists in Posture Management - UK & Ireland 2020 Since the firm’s inauguration in 2005, Wheel of Health Limited (WoH) has specialised in offering Postural Analysis,management assessment and intervention to adults and childrenwith complex and challenging healthcare needs. As we examine the firm’s vital work, we also reveal their success inwinning one our coveted Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Awards for 2020. An extremely personable company who put clients first, WoH ensure that every service they offer is efficient and meets a client’s individual needs. Specialising in wheelchair seating and round-the-clock posture management, the firm provide solutions and resources for patients who need support in maintaining, gaining, or regaining their independence. With a team of eighteen highly skilled and competent occupational and physiotherapists (plus support staff), every staff member has significant post-graduate experience and training in the specialism of wheelchair seating and posture management. Over the last nearly fifteen years, WoH’s client base has continued to grow, thanks to long-term commitment to ongoing review. Posture management needs continue to progress, irrespective of the clinical presentation or prognosis. Posture is often seen as static, with wheelchair users’ posture presented at assessment often being considered as their permanent posture. Under the influence of rehabilitation, variable and changeable muscle tone, spasticity patterns and behavioural changes among other factors, postural requirements of wheelchair users change much more. WoH is focused on achieving the best possible results for their clients through being involved at all stages of the postural management process. From initial postural analysis and assessment, right through to handover and final setup of recommended equipment, WoH’s team of clinical specialists are present to ensure that maximum benefit can be, and is, achieved. This often includes much necessary positioning training with the client and their carers. It has been recognised in the medical community that regular programmed postural reviews are required to maintain the best possible continued benefit, as well as improved usefulness. It is vitally important that postural management is used effectively, as more often than not, a wheelchair user’s very independence can hinge on it. WoH’s postural management influences systemic bodily functions, ease of access to driving controls in a powered wheelchair, ease of propulsion in a manual wheelchair, access to and completion of all daily activities, and access to communication and assistive controls. The first, and perhaps most important aspect of any postural management assessment process, is to carefully examine the patient’s physical condition, taking note of deformities, altered muscle tone, impaired sensations, and effects of trauma. All WoH findings are clinically recorded to give an accurate reference point for future problem solving. If there is pelvic asymmetry for example, that can be corrected, then any seating solution should seek to do that, but if it is not correctable, any postural management solution should seek to accommodate it, therefore reducing the risk of worsening any existing issues. Competent clinicians must work with equally competent technical teams as collaboration is a necessity. For wheelchair users who fully depend on Contact Details: Company: Wheel of Health Limited Contact: Lucy Weech Website: www.wheelofhealth.co.uk/ Aug20542 their equipment, they require both clinical and technical input to address complex needs. The ethos at WoH is to work in direct collaboration with competent equipment suppliers who can provide, maintain and assist in the adjustment of equipment to meet the ongoing clinical changes of all clients. Rapidly increasing levels of highly sophisticated technology means that more patients can increase their level of independence. WoH’s effective posture management intervention through clinically appropriate solutions, facilitate access to more activities and can be the difference between independent function or not. The firm work in direct collaboration with specialist equipment partners across the United Kingdom and Ireland, each of whom have the technical skills and abilities to deliver for WoH’s highly complex client base. At the centre of WoH’s success, is its drive and determination to ensure that every wheelchair user is entitled to potentially life-changing equipment. By carefully making sure that every detail regarding posture management and wheelchair seating needs are met, clients can experience high-level care and input, by a firm that has nothing but their best interests at heart.