Dear DHSC,

On 20.02.2025, in response to my question No.5, NHSE misleadingly responded as follows:
Qu.5. Does NHS England and DHSC know of any restrictions on the legal right to have a personal wheelchair budget, applying to residents in care homes?
“No, Integrated Care Boards (ICB’s) are responsible for the provision and commissioning of local wheelchairs services, and the development of their local wheelchair service eligibility criteria based on the needs of their local population. People referred to their local NHS Wheelchair Service who meet the local eligibility criteria will be eligible for a personal wheelchair budget as outlined in the Right to Have Guidance.”
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/t...

According to a recent report commissioned by Wheelchair Alliance:
“Individual services have different eligibility criteria which is leading to unequal provision (e.g. variation in policy around occasional use wheelchairs and variation in policy around powered wheelchairs in care homes).
“Suggested solution: NHSE mandates a set of standardised eligibility criteria across all services. This will ensure that all wheelchair users across the country are entitled to the same care regardless of where they are located.”

Source: WHEELCHAIR PROVISION: HOW TO DRIVE EFFECTIVE CHANGE (Wheelchair Alliance, Nov.2024, See Doc.1, p.7)
https://144566510.fs1.hubspotusercontent...

In an official NHSE document - National Wheelchair Data Collection Guidance - levels of user needs requiring NHS wheelchairs are clearly defined (Doc.2, dated 02.11.2020).
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/w...
In the above official NHSE document, dated 02.11.2020, there are NO exclusion criteria specified for disabled care home residents, because this would unfairly create health inequality, discrimination and hinder their access to legal rights such as the Personal Wheelchair Budget (PWB).

The NHSE FOI response dated 20.02.2025 seems to suggest that now NHSE encourages ICBs to indulge in discrimination & unequal access to NHS WCS across the country, and unequal access to the PWB, which is now determined by arbitrarily drafted ICB NHS WCS eligibility/exclusion criteria, widely varying across England.

Under the FOIA kindly disclose:

1. Were DHSC and NHSE informed in November 2024 of the following Wheelchair Alliance findings: “Individual services have different eligibility criteria which is leading to unequal provision (e.g. variation in policy around occasional use wheelchairs and variation in policy around powered wheelchairs in care homes)”?

2. Are DHSC and/or NHSE working on the suggested solution proposed by Wheelchair Alliance: “Suggested solution: NHSE mandates a set of standardised eligibility criteria across all services. This will ensure that all wheelchair users across the country are entitled to the same care regardless of where they are located.”?

3. Are DHSC and/or NHSE working on reducing the unequal access to the PWB disadvantaging many permanently disabled care home residents, due to arbitrarily drafted NHS WCS eligibility/exclusion criteria in the different ICBs area across England?

4. Are the above issues of ensuring equal access to PWBs and equal access to NHS WCS, regardless of place of residence (e.g. own home -v- care home) clarified in the forthcoming Wheelchair Quality Framework guidance, currently being drafted by NHSE with the collaboration of Wheelchair Alliance CIC?
Comment: by way of an example of good practices, on p.24 of 31 in the attached document, the Scottish Government clearly states, with regard to provision of wheelchairs to care home residents: “Wheelchairs and accessories provided by Wheelchair service for permanent and substantial usage, short-term usage after trauma or short-term palliative care.” are the responsibility of the local RWS (Regional Wheelchair Service, Provider of bespoke Wheelchairs). On the same page, it is stated that: "Attendant propelled wheelchairs, standard transit chairs, and wheelchair cushion/footplates/lap belts for short-term use” are the responsibility of the care home.
Source: https://www.gov.scot/publications/care-h...

5. Does the aforementioned forthcoming NHS England guidance contain requirements for ICBs to draft & publish, in a timely manner, clear, complete, up-to-date and non-discriminatory NHS WCS eligibility criteria?
Comment: arbitrarily depriving permanently disabled care home residents of their PWB, or depriving them of an individual NHS wheelchair is discrimination and health inequality that they would NOT be subjected to if they continued to reside in their own home. However, many persons with complex health and care needs find themselves obliged to move into a care home. In numerous ICB areas, permanently disabled persons unfairly find themselves obliged to return their free-of-charge individual NHS wheelchair to the local NHS WCS, in exchange for a payable wheelchair, not specifically for them, and used by care home staff on multiple residents with very different needs. Other ICBs allow residents to retain their individual free-of-charge NHS wheelchair when moving into a care home:
https://www.sunderland.gov.uk/media/1937...
"Existing Manual Wheelchair Users - Wheelchair users moving into Nursing or Residential Care will be able to transfer their wheelchair on issue to them into the care setting."

Please, provide a full response on the WhatDoTheyKnow website.

Many thanks in advance.

Kind regards,
Marc Jordan