In England, disabled people ‘have to wait up to two years to get a wheelchair’ | NHS

Disabled people are having to wait up to two years to get a wheelchair due to delays involving NHS bodies and the private companies that make them.

The situation is revealed in a report by England’s Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Paula Sussex, who said the robberies had profound consequences and limited wheelchair users’ ability to lead independent lives.

In one case, a three-year-old boy with cerebral palsy was unable to start nursery at the same time as his twin brother because he had to wait seven months to get a wheelchair. He injured himself several times when he fell from an adapted stroller his parents were using while waiting.

Sussex has launched an investigation into NHS wheelchair provision after a sharp rise in complaints – from eight in 2020-21 to 110 in 2025-26.

Four out of five concern the handful of private companies that provide wheelchairs to at least half of all children and adults who need them to help them lead independent lives.

Most involve people who need a wheelchair and have to wait longer than the supposed maximum of 18 weeks to receive the device or its parts.

“For people who rely on a wheelchair, delays, unsuitable equipment or poor repairs can affect every aspect of their life,” Sussex said.

“This can have profound consequences, from physical pain and emotional distress to limiting their ability to lead a full life. »

Elliot Cruz Gardiyanoglu, now six, was three when he had to wait seven months to get his wheelchair. It also meant he had no access to education or specialized therapy.

“We were never told there would be such a long wait for the wheelchair,” said his mother, Jania Cruz. “If we had known, we would have explored other ways to obtain it, in particular so that Elliot would not fail to start the nursery at the same time as his brother.

“It was very hard for him to see his brother go to school when he couldn’t. »

Rachel Perrin, director of Newlife, a charity for disabled children, said Elliot’s experience showed how “a bad wheelchair – or no wheelchair at all – can be, while keeping children and their families stuck at home and preventing them from going to school and participating in activities with their siblings and friends”.

Graham Woolner, a 68-year-old from Bishop’s Stortford with spinal muscular atrophy, a degenerative disease, has needed a wheelchair for 15 years.

He was supposed to get a new one by August 2023, but it didn’t arrive until September 2024, and when it arrived, it didn’t work properly. He didn’t get one in perfect working order until October 2025, 26 months after the 18-week deadline.

“After a year of waiting, the wheelchair they gave me broke on the first day. I only made it 100 yards before the batteries died,” Woolner said. “The battery problem was never resolved, so I couldn’t go anywhere for a year with any confidence that I’d get there and come back.

“I love being independent, going into town and walking my dogs. But it’s gotten to the point where I won’t go out without my son in case I need him to push me around the house.

“The wheelchair is indeed my legs. I need them to live my daily life.”

Nick Goldup, chief executive of the Wheelchair Alliance, said the report highlighted the systemic problems faced by wheelchair users.

“Ensuring good wheelchair provision means giving people the freedom to live their lives and enabling them to contribute meaningfully to society,” he said.

Sussex highlights a “regulatory gap” in wheelchair services such as assessment, adjustment and repair. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency oversees the equipment, but the remit of the Care Quality Commission – the NHS care watchdog – does not cover the services wheelchair users receive because they are not supervised by a healthcare professional.

Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), regional NHS bodies that commission wheelchair services, have “unreliable information” about the number of people locally in need of wheelchairs and face “an uncompetitive wheelchair market” dominated by a handful of private providers. ICOs are also not good at warning each other when they encounter problems with private companies providing poor services.

An NHS spokesperson said: “Long waits to get a wheelchair are unacceptable, depriving people of the independence and quality of life they deserve.

“That’s why our Wheelchair Quality Framework, co-produced with wheelchair users, sets a clear expectation that 92% of people receive their equipment within 18 weeks, and requires commissioners to hold regular performance meetings with providers to identify and resolve delays.