NHS: Wheelchair Services

Lord Rennard Excerpts

Monday 24th November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

The provision of the right type of wheelchair is crucial, but we also need to expand care options to boost independent living at home. We have done that in part through an additional £172 million for the disabled facilities grant, which goes hand in hand with people being able to live at home. This could enable around 15,600 extra home adaptations. Introducing care technology standards for those who are using wheelchairs and those who are not will also enable proper care standards and independent living.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as the conference chair of the National Association of Equipment Providers. As a teenager, I pushed my mother everywhere in a wheelchair; we had to buy it second hand through the Liverpool Echo. Wheelchair provisions have improved greatly since then, but how can the Government work with the Wheelchair Alliance and with trade associations to ensure that retailers have skilled clinical staff who are trained to undertake assessments and prescribe appropriate wheelchairs and other forms of assistive technology?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

The points that the noble Lord has raised are crucial—not least that, as I alluded to earlier, one type of wheelchair does not suit everybody. That is why I am keen to see the results of the Wheelchair Quality Framework, which, as I mentioned to my noble friend, was published in April. That sets out quality standards and statutory requirements, including offering personalised wheelchair budgets, which would assist in the circumstances that the noble Lord describes.