Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase access to specialist wheelchairs for children in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision and commissioning of local wheelchair services.

The Lincolnshire ICB and Lincolnshire County Council jointly commission an all-age wheelchair service. To support access to specialist wheelchairs, the Lincolnshire wheelchair service has a close working relationship with bespoke seating services who support with wheelchair fittings and assessments. In addition, the service also operates a personal wheelchair budget option that supports the provision of equipment outside of the standard service and that helps assess the equipment sourced to make sure it is appropriate and meets the patient’s needs.

NHS England is taking steps to reduce regional variation in the quality and provision of National Health Service wheelchairs, and to support ICBs to reduce delays in people receiving intervention and equipment. This includes publishing a Wheelchair Quality Framework on the 9 April 2025 which sets out quality standards and statutory requirements for ICBs, such as offering personal wheelchair budgets. The framework is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/wheelchair-quality-framework/