Children In Wales Wait Too Long For Wheelchairs

This is terrible. I hope this situation improves very soon.

Some children are having to wait so long for wheelchairs that when they finally arrive they are too small, a Welsh assembly committee has been told.

Children’s commissioner for Wales adviser Peter Hoskins said waits of up to 18 months were “far too long”.

He said there were particular problems in Powys, it stopped them playing, had a “significant effect” on development and breached their fundamental rights.

Ministers said AMs would be updated on a review of the issue this week.

The assembly’s health committee, which is conducting an inquiry into wheelchair services, was told by a parent, Joanne Davies, that next January she will have waited three years for a replacement wheelchair for her son, and the delay had had tragic consequences.

Families are at the mercy of the agencies Peter Hoskins, policy adviser to the children’s commissioner for Wales

“In the meantime, I had a chair that was too small,” she said.

“He was bowled around in the chair by a younger child, which was just something they do in the playground, because he was too big for the chair.

“The chair got tipped, he had a stroke-like episode… he was rushed to Hereford Hospital.

“It’s a human rights issue….[children’s] basic needs aren’t being met,” she added.

Mr Hoskins said there were particular problems for children living in Powys, served by the Artificial and Appliance Centre (ALAC) in Wrexham.

The Wrexham centre, and another one in Cardiff, assess and provide wheelchairs for all for Wales.

“Most people would agree that when they get a service it is reasonably good”.

“But the waiting times to get a wheelchair in the first place and also, occasionally, the waiting times to get repairs and adjustments made, are just too long.

“Sometimes it can be 15 [to] 18 months from asking for a wheelchair to getting a wheelchair – in which time the child grows, of course, and the child’s condition may also change.

“So sometimes, by the time the actual wheelchair arrives it is already not fit for use because the situation that the child is in, even the size, the development, of the child has changed.”

Mr Hoskins warned the committee the consequences for the children involved were very serious.

“If you had a child who couldn’t go out of the house because they didn’t have a pair of shoes to enable them to do so then the families would actually do something about that very, very quickly – no matter what it took.

“When it comes to the provision of wheelchairs, so that a child can get around and be mobile, families are at the mercy of the agencies that provide them… it has a significant effect.”

Mr Hoskins stressed the importance of play or social activity to the development of children.

“Children in wheelchairs who have no mobility aren’t able to go our and play [and] socialise with their peers, and this is a fundamental right [under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child],” he said.

Evidence Mr Hoskins presented to the committee indicated that people served by the Wrexham ALAC were waiting on average 140 days before they were assessed for a wheelchair.

The standard waiting time was 21 days for the Cardiff ALAC and 161 days for complex cases.

Health Minister Edwina Hart told the assembly in July that the average waiting times for more complex needs were five months in south Wales and 15 months in the north.

Following the criticism of the service in the committee on Wednesday, an assembly government spokesman said: “Edwina Hart ordered a review of wheelchair provision in Wales and will be updating assembly members this week.”

In relation to funding, the spokesman added: “Funding of £18.608m was provided by Health Commission Wales for the Artificial Limb and Appliance Service in 2008/09.

“The £18.608m funds provision of all its services across Wales and includes funding for wheelchairs and other elements, such as limb prosthetics and electronic assistive technology.

“Between 1 November 2008 and 31 October 2009, 11,997 wheelchairs were provided, of which 1,098 were for children.”