Look at the state of this:

Wheelchairs in King’s College Hospital are being hired out like Boris bikes, costing £2 an hour.

“people arriving at the hospital and unable to walk to A&E are pointed towards a hiring dock full of wheelchairs unlocked by a credit card machine.”https://t.co/ow2vhrqE06 pic.twitter.com/Dy8yz2cXr8

— Ben Claimant 💚 Join a Union (@BenClaimant) October 9, 2024

The source article states:

NHS hospitals in London are charging patients by the hour for wheelchairs used to get around their buildings.

Rather than have a stock of hospital owned-and-operated wheelchairs King’s College Hospital in Lambeth has installed a Boris Bike-style hiring service run by Wheelshare, a private healthcare business. Unless patients have come in an ambulance, people arriving at the hospital and unable to walk to A&E are pointed towards a hiring dock full of wheelchairs unlocked by a credit card machine.

Although the first four hours are free, after that each wheelchair costs patients £2/hour, with the cost being automatically charged to the user’s credit card. King’s has some of the worst waiting times in country, with some patients waiting up to 12 hours to be seen in A&E.

As one patient’s carer put it: “You can’t call an ambulance because of the waiting times. If you get to the hospital in a car you need to pay for transport while you wait in A&E. There’s literally a wheelchair shortage in a hospital”

The service – if that’s what you can call it – has already extended to Hillingdon Hospital in Uxbridge and may go on to other hospitals in London as part of an ambitious expansion plan by Wheelshare.

What a swindle.

Apparently the fees are there to ensure the wheelchairs are returned by patients, and those who experience longer waits for treatment are able to have the costs refunded by contacting Wheelshare directly.

But this is not advertised at the hospital or in text messages sent by Wheelshare to patients who have been charged, according to London Centric.

But when settling the bill for a wheelchair on the docking station, patients are prompted to pay an extra donation to the NHS hospital.

So that’s false advertising, isn’t it? What good is a refund service if nobody knows about it?

The whole affair seems extremely suspicious. Isn’t it just another scheme to victimise the sick and disabled?

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