Handicare

STAIRLIFT MANUFACTURER HANDICARE RESPONDS QUICKLY TO COVID-19

Handicare — 08/04/2020

Global stairlift manufacturer and home adaptation solutions provider Handicare has responded swiftly to the current emergency situation, safeguarding employees and customers around the world.

In the UK and Holland, robust protocols and procedures have been put in place to keep its stairlift manufacturing facilities operational for the foreseeable future, while its office-based staff in the UK have been working remotely since the government advised against non-essential travel.

Handicare Executive Commercial Director UK, Europe and Far East, Clare Brophy praised the company’s employees for their willingness to adapt quickly to new ways of working which have been essential to the success of keeping the business up and running for its trade and retail customers.

“Together with our partners, we’re all supplying many vulnerable people who are completely dependent on Handicare’s products to make their everyday life easier. We take our responsibility seriously for supporting them and our partners. We’re actively taking steps to keep our factories operational and to support partners’ businesses and the teams at Handicare have responded magnificently.”

Handicare is one of the UK’s leading providers of straight, curved and outdoor stairlifts servicing all areas of the marketplace from its sites in the West Midlands and West Yorkshire. It supplies stairlifts locally through a network of mobility dealers and shops, through local authorities and directly to consumers.

UK Sales and Marketing Director Paul Stockdill said: “Our UK team is 100 percent focused on continuing to supply and maintain our much-needed products and services either through our partner network or directly for the many vulnerable people who are completely dependent on them.

“We take our responsibility seriously for supporting them, particularly at a time when they’re feeling very worried about the risk to their health of contact with strangers in their homes.”

The business has taken steps to ensure the health and well-being of its employees as well as its customers. These include:

Closely monitoring developments with the COVID-19 outbreak, following guidance and implementing recommendations from the British government and public health authorities.
Implementing travel restrictions to prevent non-essential travel. We have also increased our IT capacity to enable homeworking for many of our office-based employees.
Increased communications to inform, support and protect employees via intranet, poster campaigns and email.
Maintaining very high hygiene across all workplaces.
Asking everyone who is requesting in-home assessments for stairlift installations, actual installations and maintenance visits to provide information about their personal health in terms of whether they have any symptoms, are self-isolating or recovering from any illness.
Provided masks, hand sanitisers, and surgical gloves for all field-based personnel who are making customer visits.

The direct-selling departments have introduced new methods of communication for customers, offering alternatives to in-home assessments to reassure people enquiring about having a stairlift installed.

“In order to minimise face-to-face customer contact our team is making use of existing technologies to have conversations which are helping to build trust and share information. With many years of experience dealing with vulnerable people, we felt it was important to be as proactive as we can with new and existing customers to give them reassurance that support is there if they need it now or whenever they are ready to proceed with an installation. The response has been very positive so far,” said Paul.

Handicare has also offered assistance and additional support to stretched local authorities who may have diverted their OT teams to frontline duties.

In a communication to its local authority clients and contacts, Handicare wrote: “The government and the NHS are currently prioritising initiatives to free up hospital beds which can be used for patients who are unwell with COVID-19. The NHS is therefore keen to discharge patients who are well enough to go home if they have the necessary equipment to assist them. This is dependent on OTs being able to visit those concerned to carry out assessments. Handicare has a large team of fully qualified surveyors and the moving and handling team who are standing by to assist by carrying out assessments on behalf of your OTs. We are keen to offer this service as it will help to free up hospital beds in your locality.”

“PLATINUM” AND “GOLD” AWARDS FOR HANDICARE’S HOME ADAPTATIONS SERVICES

Handicare — 26/02/2021

Customers of home adaptations provided by Handicare Accessibility and its direct-selling division Companion have rated their experience worthy of the highest service standards, according to review site Feefo.

Handicare has won the Feefo Gold Trusted Service award for its stairlift and easy bathing solutions delivered in association with Age UK Enterprises. Handicare’s direct-selling division, Companion is awarded the Feefo Platinum Trusted Service award for the second consecutive year.

The Trusted Service awards are an independent seal of excellence recognising businesses for delivering exceptional experiences, as rated by real customers.

Trusted Service is awarded only to businesses that use Feefo to collect genuine reviews and insights and as such the accreditation is a true reflection of their commitment to outstanding service. Feefo ensures that all feedback is authentic, by matching it to a legitimate transaction, to increase consumer confidence in reviews posted on its website.

Congratulating the Handicare team on winning this year’s award, Steph Heasman, Director of Customer Success at Feefo, commented: “The Trusted Service award has always been about recognising companies which are outstanding in customer experience and generate great feedback from happy customers.

“This year, despite the incredible challenges of a global pandemic, so many companies using Feefo have continued to provide remarkably high levels of service and they deserve a huge amount of credit for what they have achieved.”

Handicare Head of Customer Service Sarah Sutcliffe (pictured) said: “This is a tremendous boost for our whole team. We’re hugely proud our customers continue to rate their experience with us so highly. Coming after a period when our teams faced such challenging conditions as a result of the pandemic, the awards really are testament to their willingness to go the extra mile and their commitment to do their very best for our customers.”

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About Handicare Accessibility

Handicare offers solutions to increase the independence of disabled or elderly people, and to facilitate for their care providers and family. The offering encompasses a comprehensive range of curved and straight stairlifts, transfer, lifting and repositioning aids and vehicle adaptations. Handicare is a global company with sales in some 40 countries and is one of the market leaders in this field. The head office is in Stockholm, Sweden and manufacturing and assembly is located at four sites distributed across North America, Asia and Europe. In the 12-month period to September 2020, revenue amounted to MEUR 208 and the adjusted EBITA margin was 6.3%. Employees amounted to approximately 900 and the share is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm. For more information, www.handicaregroup.com.

About Feefo

Feefo is a disruptive global technology company empowering brands to make smarter decisions and improve consumer experiences by leveraging the full potential of real customer reviews. Feefo’s cutting-edge review platform is trusted by more than 3,500 brands including Next, Vauxhall, Iceland, Mazda, Expedia, Michael Page and JCB, who rely on it to supply smart insights that transform their ability to market, sell and build more rewarding relationships with customers. A trusted partner of Google, Feefo’s technology and consultancy team possesses unique expertise and business insight, enabling brands to employ cutting-edge innovation that optimises the delivery of digital marketing and advertising. www.feefo.com

Handicare achieves Feefo Platinum customer service recognition

Handicare — 06/07/2023

Stairlift provider Handicare has earned the Platinum Feefo Trusted Service Award for Companion Stairlifts and its partner Age Co, the commercial mobility brand of Age UK.

This marks the fourth consecutive Platinum Award for Companion, while it’s the first time Age Co has moved up to Platinum from its previous Gold status.

The award is a testament to Handicare’s commitment to levelling up service in the past year, accelerated by Matt Roberts’ appointment as UK Service and Contracts Director.

Matt joined Handicare over a year ago to oversee the stairlift manufacturer’s local authority contracts, as well as its partnership with Age Co, which has been going from strength to strength since its beginnings in 2008. Earlier this year he moved up to oversee the local authority and direct sales customer service strategy within the UK.

Matt congratulated everyone involved on the award: “Excellent customer service is absolutely vital in any business, but especially in our industry where most of our customers are vulnerable adults. Our teams work extremely hard to provide a professional and friendly service, and I couldn’t be prouder of this achievement, a real recognition of their dedication.”

The Feefo awards recognise consistently excellent reviews from independently verified customers, for a reliable insight into the company’s customer service standards. The annual awards shine a light on businesses that deliver outstanding service to their customers, achieving an average rating of over 4.5 stars.

Handicare has been investing in customer service with innovations such as User TechTool. This version of its popular digital troubleshooter provides simple user error fixes that can be carried out at home without any technical expertise.

End users as well as customer service teams can click through the steps to fix problems without the need for an engineer visit, which means faster resolution for customers, as well as time and money saved on visits from engineers.

Since its acquisition by the Savaria Corporation in 2021, Handicare has been able to expand its product portfolio as well as align its global service provision. The Platinum service award is just one of the many ways Handicare is growing bigger, better, and stronger as part of the Savaria family.

Handicare secures £1.6m public sector contract

Handicare — 11/10/2018

Great news to share with the Made in the Midlands community about a contract win north of the border after Handicare has been contracted to provide stairlifts to a council in Scotland.

The deal with North Lankarshire council is worth £1.6m and Handicare described the win for both the Telford site and their colleagues in Scotland.

The contract is understood to be part of the council’s £10m fund to provide mobility equipment and stairlifts to residents in North Lanarkshire.

The deal involves employing Handicare and a Glasgow-based dealer, Stairlifts Scotland Ltd, to supply, install, remove and maintain stairlifts.

The service is designed to modify private homes and local authority housing and is run in partnership with the NHS.

Handicare’s national sales manager, Paul Stockdill, told AMP: “Our public sector contracts are an important part of the business and our successful bid against the competition clearly demonstrates the council’s confidence in our ability to deliver value for money services.”

In 2017, £14m of Handicare’s £60m total revenue came from government contracts. Around £13m came from trade partners and £25 from direct sales.

The company sold 70,000 product last year and it has been investing in manufacturing tighter bends on its curved rails and techniques such as laser etching and digital bar codes for easier installation.

Thanks to Access and Mobility Professional for this article http://www.accessandmobilityprofessional.com/handicare-secures-1-6m-public-sector-stairlift-contract/

Handicare joins leading Midlands industry network

Handicare — 24/05/2018

Kingswinford-based Handicare has joined leading Midlands manufacturing and engineering membership group Made in the Midlands to share best practice, win new business, collaborate, and raise its profile within the local community.

The West Midlands site is the headquarters of the UK division of global company Handicare, which offers solutions and support to increase the independence of the physically challenged or elderly people, and to enable them to live an active life on their terms and to facilitate for their care providers and family.

In Kingswinford, Handicare manufactures stairlifts which are distributed to a network of trade partners, and for direct private and local council installations in the UK. They are also exported to countries including the US, China and Australia. In the last few years, Handicare has made substantial investments to enhance productivity in the manufacturing process across sites in the UK and the Netherlands, focusing on simplification and automation and increasing capacity to cope with rising global demand.

Handicare Director of Operations UK, Richard Whitehouse said: We are delighted to join Made in the Midlands movers and shakers and to participate in activities which are bringing together our regions engineering and manufacturing firms from all sectors. We are keen to develop closer relationships with our neighbours in the industry, and to share best practice which will have a positive impact on our local economy as well as participating companies.

Handicare is now part of a collective group of 400+ firms including Jaguar Land Rover, ZF, GKN, Dennis Eagle, Moog Aircraft Group, Mahle Powertrain, Yamazaki Mazak, Autins, Ricoh, Sertec, Dura, Gestamp, Hadley Group, Arlington Industries, Lander, Liberty Group and more.

Handicare is proud to be part of the growing #MIMFAMILY, and looks forward to benefitting from the buzz surrounding this network.

Handicare services vital now more than ever

Handicare — 27/04/2020

Dudley based stairlift manufacturer Handicare has stayed open supporting vital industries and customers in need.

Handicare offers solutions and support to increase the independence of the physically challenged or elderly people and to enable them to live an active life — on their terms — and to facilitate for their care providers and family.

Their offering encompasses a comprehensive range of straight and curved stairlifts, transfer, lifting and repositioning aids, vehicle accessibility products and solutions and medical equipment.

“Stairlifts has always been an industry about keeping people in their homes”, says Richard Whitehouse, Operations Director at Handicare. Due to current circumstances around the prevention of COVID-19, it may be argued this applies now more than ever.

Handicare, a member of Made in the Midlands, has seen a high demand for stairlifts since the outbreak. Local Authorities have been purchasing stairlifts for those who are able to leave the hospital but aren't able to move freely on their own.

Since the pandemic, Handicare Kingswinford has been producing around 20 curved lifts and a similar number of straights every day to support those in need, some of whom need the lift to be able to be released from the hospital, easing bed-blocking when every bed is needed.

In order to stick to social distancing measures, Handicare office staff is working remotely. Production staff has been placed at least 6-8 feet apart to minimize the risk of infection, as well as ensuring they use protective PPE. To ensure staff safety further, the firm is also checking the staff temperatures every morning. Engineers out servicing their products for customers are required to wear vital PPE and clean everything down once they leave the premises.

Offering advice to other manufacturers still operating during this time, Richard added:

“I think the biggest challenge we have at the moment is the supply chain, as things have had to slow down dramatically. My advice would be to have a plan for when everything goes back to normality and to do this by keeping up with everything going on now. This will potentially avoid any bottlenecks once the pandemic has ceased.”

Get in touch with Handicare today bu heading to their microsite https://handicare.madeinthemidlands.com/.

Making everyday life easier

Handicare — 29/01/2021

Handicare Accessibility, based in Kingswinford, is a leading manufacturer of straight and curved stairlifts for UK and worldwide distribution. Its mission is to help make everyday life easier and to increase the independence of people in later life or those with mobility challenges.

Handicare’s safe and reliable stairlifts have helped to make a difference for over 700,000 people worldwide. The manufacturer is very conscious of the role it plays in helping people to live at home for as long as possible.

This has far-reaching benefits for individuals, their families, their carers and the wider health service, where budgets are stretched and there is immense pressure on adaptation funding awards.

Everyone at Handicare – from the sales and customer service teams to the surveyors and engineers - regularly deals with some of the most vulnerable people in society, so customer service has to be first class. In fact, the team goes above and beyond to educate people that home adaptations are like any other home appliance: a route to making life a little easier.

Investment in people is a cornerstone of Handicare’s strategy for the future. With a worldwide ageing population, the accessibility marketplace is growing and, like many other businesses, Handicare faces increasing competition for the available talent.

By focusing on its sector’s social impact, Handicare will attract those people who are seeking employers who make the world a better place: from the manufacturing end of the supply chain right through to the people selling, installing and maintaining the life-changing equipment they produce.

Its commitment to manufacturing excellence is another factor keeping Handicare at the top of its game. Significant investment has been made in industry 4.0 manufacturing technologies including robot welders for smoother stairlift rail joints and complex three-dimensional helix bends. Production improvements have led to increased output and reduced lead times – both important factors when considering how quickly most customers need a stairlift installed once the decision to have one is made.

Handicare thinks it is equally important to invest time and effort into training and educating apprentices.

“As with most engineering and manufacturing companies, there is a skills gap where the majority of our demographic is well into their working careers. We are actively encouraging more younger people into what is a rewarding and valuable career that makes a significant contribution to society. Apprenticeships form part of this strategy,” explains Richard Whitehouse, Operations Director – UK.

Made Futures was created to encourage people to get jobs in manufacturing, in support of those who have lost their jobs over the course of the 2020 pandemic. There's still time to sign up and be part of the exhibition by filling in the form here.

Handicare discusses the importance of R&D

Handicare — 09/08/2018

Handicare director of operations Richard Whitehouse spoke recently to mobility trade magazine Access and Mobility Professional about the importance of research and development.

You can read the interview here: Access and Mobility Professional Magazine: Exclusive interview

Handicare shortlisted in Asia-Pacific Eldercare Innovation Awards

Handicare — 14/03/2019

Multinational Handicare Group, a global provider of solutions and support to increase the independence of the physically challenged or elderly, has received recognition for innovation in the aged care sector after the company’s newest stairlift model was announced as a finalist in the ‘Oscars’ of the Asia Pacific eldercare industry.

The annual Asia Pacific Eldercare Innovation Awards honour organisations for their innovative and quality approaches to changing the way the region’s older adults age, and for their contribution to shaping the future of the ageing landscape. The awards are organised by Ageing Asia, the first Ageing Market Consultancy Social Enterprise in Asia with the mission to change the future of ageing in Asia-Pacific.

The Handicare 1100 straight stairlift is a finalist in the category Best Solution to Support Ageing-in-Place – Assistive.

Handicare’s newest stairlift design attracted positive feedback when it made its debut at international exhibition Rehacare in Germany at the end of 2018.

Its standout features are its tooth and grease-free compact rail, which is easy to keep clean, and the unique patented four-wheel drive technology based on friction drive, which ensures a smooth and reliable ride. The silver anodised rail looks good and obscures less of the stairs than any other stairlift on the market, and, with no visible mechanism or grease, it’s also very easy to maintain.

Handicare Executive Commercial Director UK, Europe & Far East, Clare Brophy said: “This is a tremendous accolade for our team and our approach to delivering innovative solutions to make life easier for people with mobility challenges around the world. We are very proud to have reached the final and excited to be a part of this prestigious awards scheme which does so much to celebrate the work being done to ensure we can all enjoy healthy, independent and dignified ageing.”

The winners will be announced in Singapore in May.

For further information about the awards https://www.ageingasia.com/index.php/7th-apac-eldercare-innovation-awards.html

ENDS

About Handicare

Handicare offers solutions and support to increase the independence of the physically challenged or elderly and to enable them to live an active life — on their terms — and to facilitate for their care providers and family. The offering encompasses a comprehensive range of curved and straight stairlifts, transfer, lifting and repositioning aids, vehicle adaptations and medical equipment. Handicare is a global company with sales in more than 20 countries and is a market leader in this field. The head office is in Stockholm, Sweden and manufacturing is located at six sites distributed across North America, Asia and Europe. In 2018, revenue amounted to MEUR 291. Employees numbered around 1,200 and the share is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm. For more information, see www.handicaregroup.com.

Top 100 Manufacturer Award for Handicare's Operations Director

Handicare — 18/11/2019

The UK operations director at stairlift manufacturer Handicare, based in Kingswinford, has been named as one of the country’s outstanding manufacturing professionals.

Richard Whitehouse, who joined Handicare in July 2016, has been featured in 2019’s Manufacturer Top 100 awards scheme.

Now in its sixth year, The Manufacturer Top 100 project, run by The Manufacturer magazine, in partnership with Cranfield University, one of the country’s top centres of business education, publicly recognises the most dynamic leaders and innovators in manufacturing. Its goal is to help dispel popularly-held myths that vibrant manufacturing in the UK is a thing of the past.

Awardees are drawn from every walk of UK industry, from top floor to shop floor. They are selected from hundreds of nominations for the examples they set to young people aspiring to a career in industry; 100 unique and uplifting stories of struggle, grit, determination and success against all the odds, personal tales of individuals helping to drive UK manufacturing forward – and to change popular perceptions of careers in manufacturing and draw young people into sector.

Handicare’s UK Managing Director Clare Brophy, who nominated Richard for the award, said: “Since joining us, Richard’s focus has been on creating a stairlift manufacturing operation fit for the future. He has also been instrumental in raising our profile with young people, initiating a programme identifying and nurturing talent into the manufacturing marketplace. We are very proud to see him ranked in the Top 100.”

Nick Peters, Editorial Director of The Manufacturer and of The Manufacturer Top 100 report commented: “The individual stories in the report (available from www.themanufacturer.com) are a compelling reminder of how strong and vibrant UK manufacturing really is. We need to keep saying that, because as a nation we seem to harbour the notion that no one in the UK makes things anymore, and young people are discouraged from considering careers in manufacturing. The truth is we do make things – we are the world’s 9th largest manufacturing nation – and careers are very well paid. But there are too few skilled young people coming through the system. It is on behalf of that new generation that we do this. We want to break down the decades-old prejudice against manufacturing. We want parents to get excited about recommending a career in manufacturing to their offspring, not see it (so erroneously) as an occupation of last resort. We must not let the prejudices of yesterday poison the opportunities of tomorrow.”

In the report, Richard states: “I am a passionate believer in manufacturing and the need for the UK to strengthen its manufacturing power base once again. I think my achievements come from getting teams and individuals to work together, to challenge them to do things they didn’t believe possible and to enable them to achieve those goals.”

HANDICARE APPOINTS COMMERCIAL LEAD FOR STAIRLIFTS OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA

Handicare — 13/07/2018

Global company Handicare, which provides solutions to increase the independence of disabled or elderly people and to facilitate for their care providers and family, has announced Clare Brophy will lead its commercial strategy for stairlifts outside North America.

Ms Brophy's new role will make her responsible for leading the commercial strategy for stairlifts outside North America, where the Group currently has operations in Sweden, the UK, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and France, She will report directly to Handicare CEO Asbjorn Eskild and joins the group management team.

Ms Brophy has worked with Handicare since 2010 when her retail company Companion Stairlifts was acquired by the Group and she became a Handicare director. This is her second promotion in less than one year; in July 2017 she became the UK managing director responsible for all the group's UK activities including Dealer and Government Sales, Moving, Handling & Bathing Solutions, as well as Customer Service and Field Service.

To read more, click here