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 05 September 2008 10:33 BST

Health service 'letting down' disabled children

Monday, 20 Nov 2006 11:34
Equipment including wheelchairs is under-funded, report claims
Failures in funding are leading to disabled and terminally ill children being denied specialist equipment, it has been claimed today.

A survey of funding by primary care trusts (PCTs) and local authorities by BDF Newlife, a children's disability charity, found that on average they are spending £60 per sick, disabled or terminally ill child; £41.94 coming from the PCT and £18.89 from the Local Authority.

Four English PCTs and one local authority reported spending nothing on equipment for sick, disabled and terminally ill children.

But BDF Newlife calculates that as children's needs change as they grow, the potential amount needed for each child can total £20,000.

Specialist equipment needed includes wheelchairs costing anything between £3,000 and £16,000, specialist beds costing £2,500 and adaptive car seats totalling an average of £1,500.

The charity argues that when equipment is provided it is often not fit for purpose and can further injure or increase the suffering of children.

Its survey of PCTs and local authorities was initiated after the charity received a number of requests from families whose statutory providers had failed to fund equipment and who had been told to go to charities or credit providers instead.

Sheila Brown, chief executive officer of BDF Newlife, said: "We started off making grants to support the state system paying out £37,000 in 2004, but this rose to half a million in 2005 and so far it stands in excess of three quarters of a million this year and rising.

"We are no longer supporting the system, we are replacing it in many cases as the statutory system is rapidly failing children."

Responding to the report, Jo Webber, deputy policy director at the NHS Confederation, which represents over 90 per cent of NHS organisations, said: "We recognise that the provision of equipment, including wheelchairs, for disabled and sick children is currently a difficult and emotive area. It is particularly challenging as wheelchairs and other specialist equipment tend to be very expensive and children quickly outgrow them.

"This is one of many areas that primary care trusts and local authorities need to work closely together on. Partnership working is crucial. It is also important that children and their parents or carers are fully engaged in the process and involved in decisions about what equipment they want and need."

BDF Newlife has launched the It's Not Too Much To Ask campaign with the aim of raising awareness of the problem, which has so far attracted more than 12,000 signatures and the support of 60 MPs.End of story


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