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| TX: 17.04.09 - Living Aids PRESENTER: PETER WHITE |
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| Downloaded from www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 THE ATTACHED TRANSCRIPT WAS TYPED FROM A RECORDING AND NOT COPIED FROM AN ORIGINAL SCRIPT. BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF MISHEARING AND THE DIFFICULTY IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, THE BBC CANNOT VOUCH FOR ITS COMPLETE ACCURACY. WHITE Now something else that might be quite a challenge to advertise - could your weekly shop be about to change? Milk - tick; bread - tick; wheelchair - tick? Well that is what both Asda and the Southern Co-Op will be hoping as each launch ranges of living aids, that is objects designed to help those who need extra help in their day-to-day lives, due to perhaps advancing age or disability. From this weekend 75 Asda stores will begin to sell the Mobilease range of 15 products, including devices to help you open jars, open urine bottles and foldable wheelchairs. I asked James Maxton from Asda how comfortably the new range would sit with their other products. MAXTON Traditionally these items have been relatively difficult to get hold of - you either get them through the NHS or for social services or independent shops. So the idea of getting these items while you're getting your groceries I think appeals to a great number of people. WHITE Of course there are some good reasons why some of these things have been sold through the NHS or specialist organisations, you know they're not like groceries, people perhaps need specialist advice and these are customers who also maybe need backup afterwards, Asda's not going to be able to provide that kind of thing are they? MAXTON No, what we're providing is choice. For certain items we expect that the customers will be having that care elsewhere through the NHS and then a lot of the items are suitable for a vast majority of the population, not just people with needs. WHITE Of course a wheelchair is an important piece of equipment and relatively expensive, how confident are you that you will be selling the right things to the right people? MAXTON The foldable wheelchair is the same model that would be used through the NHS and as I was saying I think a person who'd be requiring a wheelchair would have had the necessary care and advice elsewhere. WHITE But people could just walk off or wheel possibly - off the streets to do this, you can't guarantee that they'll have the right advice can you? MAXTON Well the products are all sold within the pharmacy area, so we have trained people within those pharmacies who will be able to give advice. WHITE But I mean the kind of people who give advice traditionally are not pharmacists, they're not occupational therapists, they're people who are mobility advisors, it is quite a specialist field. MAXTON It is but Mobilease can provide support to ensure that people do get advice. We'd advise our customers to seek advice from their doctor or whoever they're getting their care from before they make a purchase. WHITE James Maxton who I spoke to earlier. Well joining me now is Chris Shaw of the Disabled Living Foundation which is a charity that provides advice on all types of daily living equipment, indeed they advised the Co-Op on its new range. And Andrea Dipple is managing director of Co-Op Xest, which launched - which launched yesterday and she joins us from Guildford. Andrea, first of all, I mean what is Xest? DIPPLE Xest is all about giving customers access to those products that we've researched and found that they do find difficulty getting hold of. We found that eight out of 10 people that we spoke to identified that they had a need and didn't go on and buy a product. WHITE Why online rather than actually in the store, which is what Asda have been doing? DIPPLE Well I think you hit the nail on the head when you talked about the specialist advice and the detailed information that you need to be able to make the right choice for you. And interestingly we're not selling wheelchairs, we have just under a thousand products but wheelchairs are not amongst them because of the specialist advice that you do need. WHITE But how will you deliver that advice? DIPPLE Well we're working, for example, with the Disabled Living Foundation who are providing us with expert advice on our site independently, our customers can go through and complete a little quiz that asks them lots of relevant questions that have been developed by occupational therapists. And at the end of that they get a whole host of useful advice and product suggestions. WHITE We'll come back to that issue because it is quite important but Chris Shaw, first of all, how significant do you think the arrival of mainstream retailers in this market is? SHAW I think it's very significant and the Disabled Living Foundation welcome it entirely. There are a number of retailers in the market now, obviously today we're hearing about Asda and Southern Co-Op. B&Q are in this market and Argos and Homebase, so we're beginning to see a trend I think which is very welcome. I mean our interest at the Disabled Living Foundation is that people can get the equipment they need and know it's there and there will be greater awareness that there are bits of kit that can help you to live safely and well at home. WHITE And why are they doing it now - I suppose it's obvious they've seen the size of the market at last? SHAW Well I mean I think the demographics of the UK are well known, obviously we've got an ageing population, the statistics tell us that within the next 20 years we'll have another three million older people - people over 65 - not all of them will need help with daily living but some will and it's very important that they get the information and advice that they need and the equipment they need to make life as easy and simple and safe as possible. WHITE Yeah how confident - I know, we should make it clear, you have advised the Co-Op so clearly you will think that they're doing it well but if there are going to be a lot of people in this market there is a danger, isn't there, that people will find themselves buying things that perhaps are not ideal for them, buying a wheelchair, for example, just to take that as an example, is quite an expensive piece of equipment, and you would think that maybe, not everyone, but some would need advice doing that? SHAW Absolutely people advice, I mean I should perhaps make it clear we're very happy to be advising the Co-Op but we're also happy to work with any other company that's entering this market or is in currently in it as well, so we're an independent impartial advisor in that sense. And we also - we provide advice and information to the public, we believe it's very important that you - members of the public - can research the field, can get the information and advice they need and some people will need a specialist assessment, perhaps from an occupational therapist, as you mentioned earlier, to make sure that the piece of equipment they purchase will actually do the job they want it to do. WHITE Andrea Dipple, specialist retailers in this field, they've often built up close, personal relationships with customers and they've offered ongoing advice, isn't it going to be quite difficult for a big company like yourselves which is very diverse as well to do that? DIPPLE Well one of the advantages that we have through both our call centre and online is that we can provide that ongoing communication with our customers. All of our products are backed by an absolute no quibble one year guarantee, so customers can try them in their home, make sure that they're suitable ... WHITE What about customers who can't - what about customers who can't get online ... DIPPLE We also have a call centre and a catalogue, so we're open to people - we do know that a lot of older people like to look online but then actually phone up and speak to a real live person who can help them. WHITE Chris Shaw, just finally, do you foresee a lot of other companies now getting into this field? SHAW Well I - we would very much hope so, Disabled Living Foundation would like to welcome any retailer into this market. We've just said, it's a growing market, there will be the demand there in the future, the demand is there now, it's there - it will grow in the future. And I think it's very important that one of the things that can be achieved through more people entering the market is all kinds of daily living equipment can become more mainstream, it shouldn't be something that it's difficult to find or get, you can only go to a specialist shop, they do a good job, many of them, but it needs to be an ordinary everyday thing that you can purchase just like anything else for your home. WHITE I need to stop you there. Chris Shaw, Andrea Dipple - thank you both very much indeed. Back to the You and Yours homepage The BBC is not responsible for external websites |
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