When Holly started her OT role in an NHS wheelchair service she asked her colleagues about ‘wheelchair skills’. How to use a wheelchair. It was a shock when the response was ‘We don’t need to know that’. Holly knew that was not true. Not just because it was included in WHO guidelines and in the NHS England Quality Framework for wheelchair provision, but because she had first hand experience of being a wheelchair user. It was even more of shock to find out this was common place in NHS wheelchair services nationwide.

Holly speaks of her journey since she was told ‘we don’t need to know that’, in changing an embedded culture, not just in her team but internationally and nationally.

Along the way she has discovered that real change comes from a place of empathy and empowerment. It also involves applying for research grants, working with manufacturers, learning how to make YouTube channels and reading Sales and Marketing books deep into the night.