Mobility Matters, Young Wheelchair Users and NHS Wheelchair Services

That the Parliament welcomes the publication of the Whizz Kidz Youth Board report, Mobility Matters: A Youth Perspective on NHS Wheelchair Services; notes that the report, which is based on a survey of more than 200 young wheelchair users and their families across the UK, found that 53% rated their NHS wheelchair as poor or very poor at meeting their needs, 77% were offered no choice in the wheelchair that they received and 62% could not customise their equipment at all; understands that Whizz Kidz supports young wheelchair users and their families across Mid Scotland and Fife; believes that a wheelchair that does not meet a young person’s needs limits their education, independence and social life; further believes that wheelchair services in Scotland are not consistently meeting the needs of young users, and calls on the Scottish Government to review how wheelchair services for children and young people are commissioned and delivered, to ensure that clinicians working with them have specialist paediatric training, and to make sure that the views of young wheelchair users shape the service.