Wheelchairs ‘bought by begging’

HUNDREDS of patients are having to crowdfund their own wheelchairs, doctors say. Although the NHS pays for basic models, they are heavy and more difficult to manoeuvre than more advanced types.

Yesterday junior hospital doctor Hannah Barham-Brown, 9, who crowdfunded her own £ ,000 wheelchair, told the BMA conference: ‘More and more I’m seeing on social media pleas from people begging for support to buy wheelchairs, not only lightweight self-propelling chairs like mine but electric chairs.’

Dr Barham-Brown has a condition that means her joints dislocate easily, and the heavy £140 wheelchair paid for by the NHS made her joints even more prone to injury.

NHS England said the NHS was rolling out personal health budgets so wheelchair users can quickly decide on their own chair.