Are long delays with NHS wheelchairs another prelude to privatisation?
One in five children who need a wheelchair are being forced to wait beyond the supposed maximum 18 weeks [Image: David Levene for the Guardian].
Just remember, everybody: This happens because a Conservative government has de-funded the NHS. It is making sure things don’t work so people get angry.
When enough people get angry, Tories will start demanding that healthcare is handed over to private companies in its entirety…
Even though we all know that private health is hopelessly inefficient and privatising the NHS amounts to reckless, homicidal disregard for the health of the nation.
Thousands of disabled people face long delays to receive an NHS wheelchair, the first official figures on the subject show.
One in five children who need a wheelchair are being forced to wait beyond the supposed maximum 18 weeks, as are almost one in six adults. Campaigners say the figures reveal a “postcode lottery” in provision across England.
Some 7,200 people who received a wheelchair between October and December had waited at least 19 weeks, despite the NHS Constitution guaranteeing access to one within 18 weeks.
NHS England does not record how long over the 18-week threshold patients have waited for a wheelchair. But the charity Muscular Dystrophy UK says it knows of young adults who within the past year had waited more than eight months.
The NHS England figures obtained by the Health Service Journal (HSJ) show that those with the greatest need for the equipment can face the longest waits.
Source: NHS delays leave thousands facing long wait for wheelchairs
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Just when you think the Nasty Party can’t get any nastier they prove you wrong.
Strangely the converse is probably true for wheelchairs being available at the entrance to hospitals, if the three hospitals I have had to use recently are anything to go by, you can get a chair from the entrances for a 1 pound deposit, to get you from vehicle to your appointment or a/e when needed.
Not the same thing, though.