NHS Wheelchair Services, Bolton

This is a report which was written by Healthwatch Bolton after a survey carried out gathering people’s views on NHS Wheelchair Services. This piece of work was carried out as a result of Bolton Clinical Commissioning Group revising its wheelchair eligibility criteria.

There were 53 people who took part, the youngest respondent being 8 years old and the oldest being 95 years old, with the report providing results regarding people’s views on:

Reasons for needing a wheelchair

Types of wheelchairs being used

Where people are getting their wheelchairs from

What their waiting times for a wheelchair are

Their experience of wheelchair maintenance/repair services

Overall rating

The report also contains comments which people wrote on the survey about their experiences of NHS wheelchair services and the report is concluded with some recommendations as a result of the findings. These recommendations were made to commissioners and to providers of wheelchair services which are as follows:

Commissioners

The mixed experiences presented in this report suggest that a review of all Greater Manchester Wheelchair services is required. Wide variations in service need to be ironed out so that all wheelchair service users receive the good or excellent standard of service that some describe. There is a case to be made for a Greater Manchester solution to wheelchair services. Such an approach would support consistency and no doubt be more economic as a result of superior buying power.

To Providers of Wheelchair Services

Wheelchair eligibility criteria and wheelchair services need to take a person centred approach reflecting the many variations in people’s conditions and lives. A truly asset based approach is required by all people working in these services in order to support disabled people’s rights and aspirations fully.

No response was provided by the providers