HealthJobsUK

Address

Elliot House
10-12 Allington Street
London
SW1E 5EH

Telephone number

020 7233 6600

Website

http://www.whizz-kidz.org.uk

How did it start?

Whizz-Kidz was set up to address the growing demand for customised mobility equipment. So far the charity has funded over 4,500 young disabled people.

Where is it based?

The charity HQ is in London and has 38 staff. They also have a unique network of 7 Mobility Therapists (occupational and physiotherapists) located across the UK.

What does it do?

The charity provides a broad range of mobility equipment and services to disabled children and their families that are not available through the National Health Service. These include: powered, manual and sports wheelchairs, specially adapted tricycles, bicycles, buggies, and walking aids; wheelchair training; information and advice.

They also work to raise awareness of the importance of independent mobility and the issues that affect disabled children and their families..

How does it work?

Their Mobility Therapists assess each child not only on their clinical needs, but also on their educational, environmental, social and lifestyle needs to ensure that Whizz-Kidz provides the mobility equipment that best suits each child's individual needs.

Whizz Kidz have also set up a wheelchair training scheme and child focused mobility centre for information and advice.p>

How much does the equipment cost?

The equipment provided costs from £520-£2,700 for an adapted tricycle, from £540-£2,500 for a manual wheelchair, from £1,000-£4,000 for a specialised cycle and from £2,500-£18,000 for a powered wheelchair. The average direct cost of providing customised mobility equipment is £5,900.

The urgent need

There are currently 70,000* disabled children in the UK whose lives would be significantly improved by the provision of a customised wheelchair or other type of mobility equipment. (*University of York Social Policy Research Unit, 1995). This number, and the demand on Whizz-Kidz for advisory and training services, is growing all the time.

The future

Their aim has always and will always be to improve the quality of life of disabled children by providing them with the best possible help, advice and appropriate equipment for their individual mobility needs.

The four key objectives that will enable Whizz-Kidz to increase dramatically their impact on the lives of disabled children are:

• To improve the assessment and provision of mobility equipment to help more children
• To broaden the range of fundraising activities and develop new income streams to enable us to plan for growth and reduce financial risk
• To develop an integrated marketing strategy (fundraising and awareness raising) to campaign to raise public awareness of the importance of independent mobility and increase income
• To develop a public policy to lobby government and influence statutory services at the highest level to improve provision for children.

Stance on Disability Equality and Child Protection

Whizz-Kidz aims to work within and promote the social model of disability. This approach values each individual for their skills, knowledge, experience and ability and recognises that barriers are created by society.

They aim to safeguard the welfare of and protect from harm, all children and young people that come into contact with the charity. Whizz-Kidz believes in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UK 1991) where children and young people have a right to be free from harm (article 19), and to be listened to and involved in all decisions that affect them (article 12).

Source = Whizz Kidz Website at www.whizz-kidz.org.uk.

Whizz Kidz presently has no vacancies listed in our database.