“A passionate, innovative and social company” were the words the Dutch King’s Commissioner René Paas officially opened our new Hoist Sling company UniQare Quality Slings, a new exciting sister company for OpeMed. With a true ethical stance running through the veins of the company, UniQare only recruits from a rich pool of labour that might otherwise find it difficult to find employment, whether it be a disability, or an employee from countries with less opportunities, UniQare has made it a priority to make a difference.

UniQare is based alongside United Care, our leading Dutch player in the Hoist and Transfer market, that all form part of the OpeMed group. The Kings Commissioner Paas said that he was proud for being able to brag a little to the country every now and then about the innovation climate in ‘his’ Groningen, the town in northern Holland where we are already ramping up production.

Nick Kent (Managing Director) of OpeMed added “we are very exciting about the road ahead with our new Patient Sling Company UniQare, both in terms of what we can offer this under-utilised workforce to produce a range of high quality, specialist slings suitable for our Ceiling and Floor Hoists. We have been very lucky to involve some incredible experience from the industry in the setup of this new company giving us over 50 years experience of industry leading sling manufacture and over 200 years of sewing experience !

UniQare has already beaten our forecasts of orders and production and we look forward to a major roll out this coming year… watch this space ”

As well as providing opportunities for a labour force that might otherwise struggle to find proactive, forward thinking employment, UniQare is for and by the people of Groningen. Because the company locally produces slings that the parent company  has been importing from abroad up until now. That is good for the regional economy, contributes to the reduction of transportation kilometers and is, therefore, sustainable.

Both companies also want to transfer the purchase of raw materials – to the extent possible – to companies in Northern Netherlands. United Care Managing Director Stevenson: “This gives an extra spin-off for the regional economy and employment by sourcing and manufacturing the patient slings locally using a talented and untapped workforce”.