Unicare Health expands offerings with Tunstall medical alarms
At Tunstall Healthcare, we’re forever on the lookout for like-minded assistive technology and connected care firms that we can form a business relationship with, and one of these is Unicare Health. Our respective staff met and discussed a range of topics at ACSA IAHSA Joint International Conference in September 2015, striking up an official partnership in February of this year.
To give you a little bit more of an understanding of what Unicare does and what the relationship with Tunstall will bring, we sat down with Nathan Smith, Business Development Manager at Unicare, to ask him a few questions about the new partnership – here’s what he had to say.
A first for both parties
Unicare offer a broad range of products and services within the disability and aged care sector, and one of their big focuses is ensuring that their healthcare equipment is at the innovative, cutting-edge end of the scale, whilst remaining friendly to the environment. That’s commendable in itself, but what else are Unicare all about?
“Unicare Health is an excellent partner for Tunstall Healthcare as they manage a variety of NGOs and end-users that can benefit from their local experience in deploying tailored solution offerings, including the Tunstall range of products and services.” – William Grant, Tunstall.
“We’re a family-owned business that is involved in the supply of both medical and rehabilitation equipment, from walkers right through to hospital beds, to mattresses and wheelchairs. Predominantly, we supply to retail, nursing homes, hospitals and service providers. We’re the conduit between the profession and the end user, if you like!”
As it happens, Unicare are the first disability and aged care equipment provider in Western Australia to retail Tunstall assistive technology solutions – so what kind of services do they provide?
“We offer sales, service rental and hygiene, so we cover every aspect. We’ve got aged care, post-op and rehabilitation care, amongst others, which are available for sale or rental. We also carry out repairs to personal equipment as well,” said Nathan.
A winning partnership
Because Tunstall are always looking for fruitful new partnerships, working with Unicare seemed a perfect fit, with their dedication to providing top-notch equipment across a range of medical sectors. However, a relationship works both ways, so why did Unicare choose to stock Tunstall’s connected care range?
“We decided to stock the Tunstall range because we like to have trusted and renowned brands as our suppliers. When we’ve tried other alarms in different fields (separate to Tunstall) we just didn’t get the backing from the companies, and we had to discontinue these relationships,” said Nathan.
“Look at it this way – Tunstall has a product that has been on the market for a long time, and the way that they offer support to their corporate clients, like Silver Chain, I was hoping that they would offer Unicare the same support – which they have. It’s a pleasant partnership with Tunstall, and they’ve made it easy, with their willingness to offer any additional help and assistance we may need.”
Supporting excellence
Any relationship, whether business or personal, are built on a mutual support of one another. The partnership between Tunstall and Unicare is no different, and Nathan used the following anecdote to illustrate this point in perfect fashion:
“When I did my first Tunstall install, we didn’t quite follow their standard procedure, and I needed a little extra support, but as far as the support team goes at Tunstall, they were superb and sorted everything out for me. They also work very closely with the end-user client after doing the initial set-up with them, explaining it, giving both the client and their family incredible peace of mind.”
“The Unicare Health staff provide exceptional customer service and are professional and knowledgeable.” – William Grant, Tunstall.
So, now that Unicare can offer Tunstall’s assistive technologies to potential clients, how has this added value to their overall pitch?
“We didn’t have any call or safety alarms to offer originally, and most of our clients either needed alarms, or already had the option with someone else, so collaborating with Tunstall was the completion of our package offering,” said Nathan.
“Our partnership eliminates the number of suppliers needed, so because a client is already dealing with us, it’s one less account for them to worry about. Additionally, we’re really looking forward to seeing Tunstall’s new GPS watch!”
What do Tunstall have to say about this exciting new partnership?
“As CDC and the NDIS continue to take shape across Australia, the Tunstall and Unicare Health partnership can provide greater consumer choice in assistive technology offerings,” said Senior Business Development Manager, William Grant.
We at Tunstall are certain that our partnership with Unicare will continue to bear fruit long into the future – and that can only mean good things for our clients. Please get in touch with us if you’d like to know more about our services – we look forward to hearing from you.
