Dear Department of Health and Social Care,

On 19.12.2023, Lord Hunt posed a question related to the NHS wheelchair services (NHS WCS): “To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the quality of locally led provision of NHS wheelchair services throughout the country.”
https://questions-statements.parliament....

Below is an official complaint I sent to the NW London NHS ICB, related to the quality of eligibility/exclusion information about access to the NWL NHS ICB wheelchair services. If indeed HM Government conducted quality assessments of the diverse NHS WCSs across the country, there would not be such a disparity of information and arbitrary exclusion of certain vulnerable members of society.

Currently, the Labour Party is empowered to make decisions about the Government's assessment of the quality of locally led provision of NHS wheelchair services throughout the country.

Lobbying and fundraising groups like Wheelchair Alliance CIC are currently demanding that the Government raises funding for NHS WCSs by £22m p.a.

Without any consistent quality assessment, this would be like putting money down the drain, tantamount to giving millions of pounds of public funds to the private equity backers of NHS subcontractors like AJM Healthcare, who are prominent members of Wheelchair Alliance CIC.

Does HM Government and DHSC intend to put into place robust assessment and inspection of all NHS WCSs, to ensure equal standards, quality and accountability?

Many thanks in advance.

Marc Jordan

Extract from my complaint to NHS NWL ICB
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Dear NWL ICB, Dear Dr Dash, Dear All,

Re: official complaint about the poor collaborative work between NWL ICB and the NWL NHS WCS, subcontracted to AJM Healthcare - wilfully unclear exclusion/eligibility information in the current eligibility criteria for Brent • Ealing • Hammersmith & Fulham • Harrow • Hillingdon • Kensington & Chelsea • Westminster

This complaint is related to the following wilfully unclear statement visible in the current FINAL November 2024 exclusion/eligibility information for Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon, Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster: “Standard attendant propelled wheelchairs for transit purposes only will not be provided to people living in a residential or nursing home; if an existing service user is relocating into a nursing home, a wheelchair previously issued for transit purposes only must be returned to the wheelchair service.” (see link below)
https://northwestlondon.wheelchair.servi...

According to official information published by DHSC: “Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision and commissioning of local wheelchair services and the development of their local wheelchair service eligibility criteria based on the needs of their local population.” (see link below)
https://questions-statements.parliament....

According to Guy Eatherinton, Business Development & Customer Relations Director at AJM Healthcare, all eligibility / exclusion information currently published on the AJM website was agreed by relevant staff at NWL ICB.

A wheelchair for “transit purposes” is an unclear, misleading and finally meaningless term.

According to MHRA, and to diverse wheelchair manufacturers, “for transit purposes” means a wheelchair adapted to be used occupied, during transport in a motor vehicle e.g. to drive a disabled person to a family outing, social event
or medical appointment without the person having to leave their wheelchair during transportation (i.e. hospital visit for dialysis, NHS re-education, physiotherapy, dentist, GP, X-ray etc). Used in this manner a wheelchair is a Class I medical device (see attached MHRA documents 4 & 5).
“The IFU should clarify:
• how to secure both the wheelchair and the seated passenger in position whilst in transit (note that lap belts and postural aids supplied with a wheelchair are not intended for this purpose). This includes guidance on the correct vehicle anchorage points for both tie-downs and occupant restraint” (see link below)
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk...
“Lap straps are not suitable for transit purposes, approved occupant restraint systems must be used.” (see p.10 link below)
https://www.sunrisemedical.com/getattach...
Semi-professional wheelchair dealers, on the web, use another definition for the term “transit wheelchairs”: “We offer cheap transit wheelchairs for users who need only a temporary solution following operation or injury.”
https://www.wheelchaircompany.co.uk/whee...
The two (2) above definitions are completely contradictory so it is unprofessional and misleading for NWL ICB to agree to the publishing of such an unclear and incomplete document by AJM, without giving their definition of what they mean by “a wheelchair for transit purposes”. I believe that this action is wilful and serves only to maximise AJM’s profits and reduce their costs.

It is also unprofessional of NWL ICB to have allowed AJM to maintain out-of-date exclusion/eligibility information on their website for nearly nine (9) months, and since February 2024 have done nothing to ensure that AJM Healthcare acting as NWL NHS WCS provide clear and complete information.

By contrast another NHS WCS provider, Ross Care, has worked effectively with the relevant ICB and produced clear and complete information about NHS wheelchair provision in care homes (see link below, p.2 Eligibility flow diagram).
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0403/2...

Care home residents in West Hampshire, Southampton and Isle of Wight are entitled to receive an NHS wheelchair if: “Resident has postural support needs AND has family, friends or advocates who visit regularly and want to take them off-site more than four times a week.”

The NWL NHS WCS eligibility criteria fail to specify in which cases care home residents are entitled to an NHS wheelchair.

This is another example of a current postcode lottery, unfairly consuming public funds and using unclear and misleading terms. This is not acceptable because it raises a barrier to access to NHS services.

Outcome: the NWL ICB to rapidly review and improve the quality of information about NHS WCS, explaining access to NHS wheelchairs in care homes. NWL ICB to ensure that their subcontractor AJM clearly defines what they mean by “a wheelchair for transit purposes”.
NWL ICB to look into why the program delivery manager responsible for supervision of outsourced NHS WCS did nothing since the matter of AJM’s use of unclear and misleading terms was drawn to their attention in February 2024. This resembles gross negligence or biased collusion.

Many thanks in advance for a rapid acknowledgment and appropriate action.

Yours faithfully,
Marc Jordan
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