NHS: Wheelchair Services

Debate between Lord Hunt of Kings Heath and Baroness Merron

Monday 24th November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the provision of wheelchair services by the NHS and social care authorities.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Baroness Merron) (Lab)]

My Lords, integrated care boards are responsible for the commissioning of local wheelchair services based on the needs of the local population. NHS England has developed policy guidance and legislation to support ICBs to commission effective, efficient and personalised services. This includes a Wheelchair Quality Framework, published in April, which is designed to assist ICBs and NHS wheelchair service providers in delivering high-quality provision that improves access, outcomes and experience.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend, but does she recognise that the work by the Wheelchair Alliance and the All-Party Group for Wheelchairs Users would suggest that, if you leave this to local health bodies and local authorities, they simply will not improve the current inadequate and patchy service? The All-Party Group for Access to Disability Equipment has reported that

“63% of carers and 55% of equipment users said that services are getting worse”.

Given what my noble friend said about the quality framework, which I very much welcome, does she accept that nothing will change unless this is enforced from the centre, with strong performance management?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I accept the observations that my noble friend has made; I know he has been a voice on this for many years. I share with him the impatience for change and welcome the work of the APPG and the Wheelchair Alliance. The NHS Medium Term Planning Framework, which was published just in October, requires that, from 2026-27, all ICBs and community health services must actively manage and reduce the proportion of waits across all community health services over 18 weeks and develop a plan to eliminate all 52-week waits. I expect that wheelchair provision and services will improve through this as well as other means.

National Health Service Regulations

Debate between Lord Hunt of Kings Heath and Baroness Merron

Tuesday 16th September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

The noble Lord makes an important point. There is absolutely no intention that people will be disadvantaged in any way. This is about equalising access, which means keeping all forms of access open. That may be online, but it will also be possible to deal with things in person and on the phone. Obviously, if we can take pressure off phone access, or personal access, through the use of online, that will assist the group to which the noble Lord referred.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, my noble friend referred to Community Health Councils. I was one of the first CHC secretaries to be appointed in 1974.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

Wait for it, my Lords—I was also the Minister who got its abolition through your Lordships’ House. Mea culpa; I was mistaken. We should bring it back.

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

My noble friend does himself credit with his honesty, which I too will take example from .

Organ Tourism and Cadavers on Display Bill [HL]

Debate between Lord Hunt of Kings Heath and Baroness Merron

3rd reading
Friday 4th March 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, I express my thanks to the noble Lords, Lord Alton and Lord Ribeiro, and the noble Baronesses, Lady Finlay and Lady Northover, for their support. I also thank Victoria Ledwidge of the End Transplant Abuse campaign and the Public Bill Office for their fantastic work in helping to knock this Bill into shape.

We had a very good debate in the genocide discussion last night on these issues of the appalling, dreadful exploitation of people’s body parts, combined with, essentially, mass killing by an authoritarian state. In 2019, the China tribunal, led by Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, stated:

“The Tribunal’s members are certain – unanimously, and sure beyond reasonable doubt – that in China forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience has been practiced for a substantial period of time involving a very substantial number of victims.”


The Bill is a small element in dealing with this obnoxious practice. I beg to move.

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

My Lords, first, I congratulate my noble friend Lord Hunt on this very welcome Bill. It is a pleasure to see the issue debated so well and regularly in this House. As my noble friend knows, he has the full support of these Benches in his endeavours. UK citizens must not be permitted to support the international organ tourism industry, where those organs are sourced illegally. I hope to see an end to the display of human cadavers in cases where the displayers have not obtained the consent of the deceased to do so. On so many levels, the issues with which this Bill deals are totally unacceptable, and I am glad that this Bill gives your Lordships’ House the opportunity, as we also had last night, to consider how to take action. This is a moral imperative, and my noble friend can count on continued support from these Benches.

As we approach the end of this Third Reading, I thank the Minister and your Lordships’ House for the time spent on and engagement with this issue. I wish the Bill every success.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Lord Kamall) (Con)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, for bringing this Bill to the House and for enabling further debate on the best approach to tackling transplant tourism and how to ensure that consent is always provided for the public display of bodies of the deceased.

While all noble Lords will agree with the sentiment behind this Bill and have been horrified by the way in which the Uighurs are treated by the Chinese Government, we feel that that the new provisions it would introduce could create unnecessary burdens while doing little more than the existing legislation to address their concerns about human rights abuses. Looking at the data, the Government have not seen evidence of any large-scale travel of British citizens to other regions seeking a transplant for payment or without consent. Indeed, despite our having a growing and ageing population with increasing healthcare needs, the figures from NHS Blood and Transplant demonstrate a steady and consistent decline in patients receiving follow-up treatment on organs received overseas: from 72 patients in 2006 to just seven in 2019.

In addition, existing provisions in the Modern Slavery Act and the Human Tissue Act already make transplant tourism an offence in many circumstances. Because of this, we believe that the most effective action we can now take is to work towards removing any incentive for UK residents to seek to purchase an organ by continuing our efforts in improving the rates and outcomes of legitimate organ donations, while maintaining the highest standards of care for those in need of an organ.

I turn now to the issue of the public display of bodies, on which there has been some debate, especially in terms of people who have given consent before their death for their bodies to be displayed. We believe that existing rules make it clear that any establishment which seeks to display bodies must provide proof of consent. If it cannot, it will not receive a public display licence from the Human Tissue Authority, and any exhibition of bodies without a licence, when one is required, will be breaking the law. I am informed that the Human Tissue Authority does receive requests from people in Britain who seek permission for their bodies to be displayed after their death.

That said, I thank all noble Lords for their contributions, which allowed for an important and wide-ranging debate on this topic. It also served as an opportunity to highlight the broader human rights concerns which I know all noble Lords share. I particularly acknowledge the persistence of the noble Lords, Lord Hunt and Lord Alton, in bringing these issues forward for debate. I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, on being successful in the ballot with this Bill.