(2) whether she has made an assessment of the (a) adequacy and (b) merits for families of the NHS Wheelchair Voucher scheme;
(3) what progress has been made in meeting the Health Care Standards for Wheelchair Services under the NHS, as agreed by the National Wheelchair Managers’ Forum in March 2005; and if she will make a statement;
(4) how much was spent on NHS wheelchair services for (a) children and young people and (b) others in England in each of the last five financial years, broken down by primary care trust;
(5) what assessment she has made of the mobility needs of children who do not meet NHS eligibility criteria for powered indoor and outdoor wheelchairs;
(6) what percentage of children and young people under the age of 18 referred to a local wheelchair service in each of the last five years did not meet the NHS’s eligibility criteria for (a) a lightweight manual wheelchair and (b) a powered indoor and outdoor wheelchair;
(7) which NHS wheelchair services provided powered indoor-outdoor wheelchairs for disabled children and young people aged (a) two years and under, (b) between the ages of three and five years, (c) between the ages of six and 12 years and (d) between the ages of 13 and 18 years in each of the last three years.
The Department does not collect centrally the following information:
the number of primary care trusts (PCTs) which provided wheelchair vouchers to families with a disabled child in each of the last three financial years;
how much was spent on national health service wheelchair services for (a) children and young people and (b) others in England, broken down by primary care trust, in each of the last five financial years;
what percentage of children and young people under the age of 18 referred to a local wheelchair service in each of the last five years did not meet the NHS's eligibility criteria for (a) a lightweight manual wheelchair and (b) a powered indoor and outdoor wheelchair; and
which NHS wheelchair services provided powered indoor-outdoor wheelchairs to disabled children and young people aged (a) aged two years and under, (b) between the ages of three and five years, (c) between the ages of six and 12 years and (d) between the ages of 13 and 18 years in each of the last three years.
The Department commissioned the York Health Economics Consortium to evaluate the powered wheelchair and voucher scheme initiatives. Its report, published in March 2000, recommended that the continuation of voucher schemes should be a matter for local decision in consultation with service users.
The transforming community equipment and wheelchair services programme has developed two potential models for wheelchair services in collaboration with users and their carers. However, further data are required before recommendations can be made for the way forward. The programme will be working with wheelchair services to develop the new data gathering exercise. David Nicholson, the NHS Chief Executive, will be writing to PCTs and strategic health authorities to encourage them to support this next stage of the programme.
The mobility needs of children are assessed at a local level as part of individual needs assessments and planning. No separate assessment is made by the Department.
The National Wheelchair Managers’ Forum has adopted the national wheelchair service standards (2004). A national working party developed the standards. This document was not produced or endorsed by the Department and is not subject to Departmental monitoring or review.