Wheelchair users face "horrendous" delays from a major NHS provider – The Bureau of Investigative Journalism



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Speaking about his various contracts across the country, Millbrook spokesman said: "Switching from one provider to another is often a challenge and we work closely with individual users department and their representatives to respond to comments received. […] we have in-depth discussions with commissioners on eligibility criteria in particular and the improvement of services in general. All wheelchair patients are "sorted and prioritized according to clinical need," they said.

More than just a simple equipment

Even the NHS doctors themselves had to resort to extra measures to get a wheelchair. Dr. Hannah Barham-Brown, who has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, had to use a crowdfunding campaign for her own wheelchair to work as a doctor.

She is campaigning for the rights of wheelchair users and is also working with the General Medical Council to make the medical career more accessible. Shaw Trust has designated it as one of the 100 most influential people living with a disability in Britain in 2018.

"Outsourcing services to companies that can not meet the needs of the patients who rely on them for their independence undermines everything the NHS represents," she told the bureau. "These companies are paid by the taxpayer for a service that does not literally deliver the goods. In the middle of all this, people with disabilities are unable to leave their homes, unable to access education, their friends or work. "

"We want to be able to work, contribute to society and it is economically wise to provide the wheelchairs we need to do it."

Dr. Barham-Brown added, "Wheelchairs are more than just a piece of equipment; they are a lifeline. A lifebuoy that saves people from being prisoners in their own homes. If companies are unable to provide this information in a timely manner, these contracts must be withdrawn and returned to the health service.

"The systems that allow these companies to sign contracts and let patients down so fundamentally are clearly not suitable, and it is the disabled who have to bear the burden of that failure."

Header image of Cariad Howat by Morten Watkins, Solent Press and Press Agency

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