When Medequip’s first in-house occupational therapist began work in Suffolk in 2019, the aim was to introduce clinical staff into the community equipment services process at depot level, providing support and playing an integral role in helping people to access the right equipment at the right time. The overall objective was to make real improvements for the commissioners Medequip serves and for the people who use Medequip services, whilst optimising time and money.
Medequip made a formal commitment to expand the concept in 2021. Today, Medequip has a strong and cohesive clinical team of 35 people working for contracts across the country, driving forward important issues like recycling of ‘specials’ equipment, developing best practice, providing depot support and managing training and guidance both in-house and for prescribers and commissioners.
Putting the focus on recycling ‘specials’
The team’s track record on recycled ‘specials’ - a term that defines all non-standard stock and includes many complex and bespoke pieces of equipment—is impressive. With social care budgets strained, improving the reuse of expensive special items of equipment results in significant cost avoidance savings. Across the year to date, Medequip depots with OTs have achieved a massive £8.5 million in savings by successfully recycling specials and reducing the need to spend on new equipment.
Medequip depots are demonstrating increasing reuse of specials, with some depots achieving figures as high as 70% of used specials being recycled and reused. The role played by the clinical team is vital, using equipment knowledge to adapt and adjust to make recycled stock suitable for further use.
Fiona Wasdell-Bowyer, Head of Clinical Services and Safeguarding Lead for Medequip, explained how the process works. “We’re focused on making sure our contracts don’t have expensive recycled special equipment sitting around gathering dust when it could be out in the community, being of practical use,” she stated. “Our clinicians understand which equipment to prioritise for repair then reuse, matching it to individuals’ needs and getting it back out there, working for people, using our clinical knowledge to support the whole process. Improving the use of recycled specials means people who need the equipment can access it more quickly, as well as offering cost saving benefits.”
Enhancing Trusted Assessor provision
Complementing the work of prescribers, Trusted Assessors (TA) for community equipment are staff who have been trained to assess for and fit equipment and minor adaptations. Medequip’s clinical team has developed targeted TA training programmes which can be modified to meet individual contract requirements, with ongoing support from the clinical team and in-house training team to ensure best practice and governance.
In 2022, prior to the involvement of the clinical team, Medequip handled a total of 467 Trusted Assessor requests. Over the last 12 months, over 4,000 referrals have been completed, and Medequip now has more than 40 trained TAs playing a vital role in enhancing effective and efficient use of resources to reduce the burden on social care.
Using the approach of a single visit for assessment and installation reduces transport and energy costs and speeds up the process from initial referral to equipment installation. Higher volume/lower need cases can be allocated to TAs, allowing health and social care staff to focus on more complex and urgent cases. As a result, waiting lists can be reduced and Medequip TAs can also helping to speed up hospital discharges, completing access visits, equipment installation and photographs to support discharge planning.
Medequip offers three levels of Trusted Assessor Services to contracts across the UK, including Trusted Assessors (TA), Trusted Installers (TI) and a specialist Risk Assessment / Review Service (TA RA) to carry out the additional risk assessments required for compliance with the latest MHRA guidelines for bed levers which came into force earlier this year.
Talk to Medequip at the OT Show
Medequip’s clinical team will be exhibiting at the Occupational Therapy Show at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre from 27-28 November this year, carrying out open question and answer sessions for visitors to explain exactly what Medequip does and how they do it.
Fiona Wasdell-Bowyer underlines the potential for clinical services at Medequip. “Our clinical team works hard to achieve a full understanding of all the different elements of each community equipment services contract and to integrate into the depot process, providing support and clinical expertise. We’re using this oversight across the country at different Medequip depots to explore exactly what ‘good’ looks like, establishing what works best to achieve the optimum outcomes for our commissioners and for the people who use our services.”