Disabled children facing ‘national crisis’ as thousands wait months for wheelchairs

[ad_1] Hundreds of youngsters are dealing with lengthy waits for important wheelchairs as NHS rejections rise, and the UK’s solely charity has been pressured to cease taking new sufferers on account of a surge in demand.

Whizz Children, the UK’s main charity for specialist wheelchair companies, has warned sufferers are dealing with a “nationwide disaster” after unprecedented strain on its companies has pressured it to shut to new referrals for the primary time in over three a long time.

The charity’s leaders mentioned demand has risen 12.5 per cent yr on yr as a result of extra youngsters are being rejected by the NHS for specialist wheelchairs, which price on common £4,800, on account of price considerations.

A kind of youngsters, Charlie Drinkwater, who has spina bifida and progress hormone deficiency, has been denied a specialist chair by the NHS for the previous 5 years.

Though she is eight years outdated, she is the dimensions of a two-year-old, and so she wants a specialist chair, which might price as much as £4,500. Nonetheless, on account of price range constraints, the NHS doesn't present chairs for under-5-year-olds, based on Whizz Children. The NHS would solely supply her a buggy, regardless of being 8 years outdated.

Now, having grown out of the primary chair offered by the charity, and having once more been rejected by the NHS, Charlie’s childhood is on maintain whereas she waits for a brand new one.

She advised The Unbiased: “I’m excited for my new chair as a result of it’s going to be pink. But it surely makes me unhappy when it takes a very long time.”

Charlie (Whizz Children)

Charlie’s household mentioned, “I had no thought charities like Whizz Kidz even existed till Charlie was born. With out them, Charlie’s independence and high quality of life would disappear in a single day. They don't seem to be a ‘good to have’—they're a lifeline.”

Figures for January 2025 to March 2026, seen by The Unbiased, present 1,676 youngsters waited for greater than three months after a referral to NHS Wheelchair Companies. Of these, 875 had been assessed as having “excessive” or “specialist wants”. An extra 1,700 sufferers had been rejected by the NHS after they had been assessed as “not requiring gear”.

Whizz Children advised The Unbiased that a rise in sufferers being turned away from the NHS had put additional pressure on its ready lists, forcing it to show away new referrals for the primary time in 35 years, with greater than 1,000 youngsters presently needing wheelchairs.

Sarah Pugh, chief government for Whizz Children, mentioned they needed to make the “heartbreaking choice” after demand had “skyrocketed in the previous couple of years”.

She mentioned: “Predominantly, the NHS standards for wheelchairs are small as a result of the price range is small. So, we successfully step up and fill that hole, however now it’s bought to some extent the place we simply can’t. The rise in demand for us should correlate to the squeezing of NHS budgets.

“We hear about numerous children trapped at dwelling as a result of they'll’t get out… We’ve by no means needed to shut purposes earlier than. It’s a disaster as a result of children aren’t getting wheelchairs, they’re not capable of get on with their childhood, they're shedding very important and essential days of their childhood…It is a nationwide disaster.”

She mentioned the NHS standards are “very strict” and most youngsters aged beneath 5 gained’t get given a wheelchair and would as a substitute be given a buggy, that means youngsters lack independence and the flexibility to discover the world.

Charlie, was supported by Whizz Children charity (Whizz Children)

Based on a current survey of its sufferers, 60 per cent of youngsters reported dwelling in discomfort or ache on account of not having a wheelchair or the proper wheelchair.

Whizz Children has now launched an attraction for funding to assist it reopen its checklist and scale back the variety of youngsters ready.

Different charities, comparable to Selection, which helps disabled youngsters and younger folks throughout the UK, mentioned underfunding inside NHS Wheelchair Companies was leaving youngsters in “determined conditions”.

Its chief government, Laurence Guinness, mentioned the information about Whizz Children was “deeply regarding” however “sadly not stunning” and it too was seeing a surge in purposes.

She mentioned: “Continual underfunding and systemic delays inside NHS wheelchair companies are leaving youngsters in already impoverished households in determined conditions.”

“When our statutory companies fail to supply, the burden shifts to charities and, most distressingly, to the households themselves, who are sometimes already navigating a difficult system to get the help they want. It is a systemic failure, and it's our kids who're paying the worth."

A spokesperson for NHS England mentioned: “We all know how essential well timed entry to a wheelchair is for sufferers, which is why the NHS affords private wheelchair budgets for folks with a long-term situation to choose a wheelchair that meets their particular person wants. We're additionally working with native healthcare suppliers to ship higher companies that enhance entry and experiences for wheelchair customers.”