West Hampshire CCG

The website of the NHS West Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)

You are here: Home / Service planning / Hampshire Wheelchair Services

Hampshire Wheelchair Services

The Hampshire Wheelchair Service is commissioned to meet the mobility needs of the local population and within the mobility provision, the postural and pressure care needs of the service user.

The service provides assessments, clinical interventions and wheelchair equipment (and ongoing repairs and maintenance) for children (aged 30 months and older) and adults who have long term mobility needs (i.e. over 6 months) due to a disability, terminal illness or severely limiting medical condition.

Millbrook Healthcare provides the service on behalf of the Collaborative*. They provide the following types of wheelchairs and equipment.

  • Manual wheelchairs (options for self-propelled or those pushed by an attendant)
  • Powered indoor wheelchairs
  • Powered indoor and outdoor wheelchairs
  • Specialist buggies, wheelchairs and seating for children
  • Specialist bespoke seating systems for use with a wheelchair
  • Pressure relieving cushions and some accessories for wheelchairs

Technology advances in recent years now mean that it is available to source wheelchairs (and wheelchair accessories) to meet broader social, lifestyle, wellbeing and independence needs.

The service will always take into consideration these needs when prescribing a wheelchair, however, as a solely NHS funded service, Millbrook Healthcare is unable to over-prescribe any equipment to independently meet any of these needs (i.e. where the equipment does not provide a mobility, posture, or pressure care benefit for the service user). This is in line with other NHS Wheelchair Services.

For full details of the service’s eligibility criteria, please view here.

We recognise this is frustrating, and in line with national ambitions, are pursuing the full implementation of Personal Wheelchair Budgets.

Only by working collaboratively with and combining health and social care funding will we be able to provide wheelchairs and associated equipment that meets our population’s broader needs.

What are Personal Wheelchair Budgets?

Personal wheelchair budgets aim to help people to access a wheelchair that meets their health and wellbeing needs and goals, as well as any specific wheelchair requirements that they have.

To date, a number of sites across the country have trialled the provision of PWBs. Case studies have shown for those individuals who have received a PWB, greater control & choice over the wheelchair provided, greater independence provided by the wheelchair, and provision of efficiencies to the wider system.

Where are we with Personal Wheelchair Budgets locally?

A local Personal Wheelchair Budget offer was implemented by the service in April 2019 replacing the existing NHS voucher scheme. This allows:

  • The person chooses to use their personal wheelchair budget within the NHS commissioned service; Millbrook Healthcare purchases and provides the chair. This also offers the option for contributions to the personal wheelchair budget to enhance the wheelchair people can access. (Notional PWB)
  • The person to use their personal wheelchair budget outside of the NHS service. An independent provider receives the personal budget via invoicing Millbrook Healthcare. This may also be contributed to as above. (Third Party PWB).

However, in both scenarios, any contributions to enhance the wheelchair must be organised by the wheelchair user, either by self-funding or accessing charity funds.

In order to improve the breadth of an offer to meet our population’s health and wellbeing needs and goals without the onus on the service user, Commissioners have begun to engage with other health, social, education and government agencies to increase the available contributions towards PWBs.

The aim is to introduce an integrated Personal Wheelchair Budget offer locally by the end of 2021.

If you require a wheelchair or buggy for a short term clinical need, (six months or less) you should approach your GP or other Healthcare Professional involved in your care. They can arrange a short term loan chair. If you require a temporary wheelchair only for occasional use there are several local companies and charities that can provide chairs for hire or purchase.

Hampshire Wheelchair Service Review

In 2017 we commissioned a review into the Hampshire Wheelchair Service. The report is divided into the following seven sections, and each main chapter contains recommendations for future improvements:

  1. Introduction 
  2. Stakeholder Feedback 
  3. Concerns and Complaints 
  4. Quality
  5. Communications
  6. National and Local Data Set Comparisons
  7. Conclusions

The full document, which runs to 204 pages, is available to download.

WHCCG17-095A-Collaborative-Hampshire-Wheelchair-Service-Review-Final-Nov-2017Download

We have also produced a shorter summary and an Easy Version version which is available below.

WHCCG17-095-Hampshire-Wheelchair-Service-Review-summaryDownload
Wheelchair-Review-Summary-Easy-Read-Final-2018Download

We would like to thank everyone who supported and helped with this important piece of work.  We had valuable contributions from many people, particularly wheelchair users, their family and carers, and also support groups and charities.

The provider, Millbrook Healthcare, has made a commitment to improving services and care pathways to deliver the best possible outcomes for wheelchair users, their families and carers and we know they will work with key stakeholders in an open and constructive way. Millbrook Healthcare did respond to the review and their response is available below.

Wheelchair-Service-Review-ResponseDownload

Millbrook is looking forward to working with all parties on the service improvement action plan and producing feasible and affordable improvements and innovations to the Hampshire Wheelchair Service.

Please be assured that we will continue to work together to ensure the quality and safety of the Hampshire Wheelchair Service.

You may also find useful:

Hampshire Wheelchair Service Review update

Procurement of Hampshire Wheelchair Services