‘Not fit for purpose’: Patients waiting years for wheelchairs from NHS’ leading provider

The son of a man with motor neurone disease who died while waiting for a wheelchair from the NHS’ leading provider has accused them of "sincerely failing his dad".

John Clarke, 67, was diagnosed with the disease in April. The NHS integrated care board in Stoke-on-Trent told him that AJM Healthcare would be providing his wheelchair and, following an assessment in May, he was told that it would be delivered in July.

His family said they were then offered a different wheelchair, which was far too heavy, and instead resorted to buying him a second-hand wheelchair from eBay.

Ben Clarke, John's son, told ITV News: "It’s not something anyone should have to face.

"If you’re faced with a terminal illness and you’ve got limited time left, you don’t want to be fighting what you take to be the professionals from the off.

Eight-year-old Summer Calvin is struggling at the hands of the same provider.

She has a rare genetic condition which means she can’t walk or speak. It means that Summer is abnormally tall for her age and she grew out of her wheelchair in September 2022. But her family say the replacements being offered by AJM Healthcare haven’t been suitable. 

"We were told that they had a certain list of chairs that they could pick from, and they were only allowed to use those ones," Summer's mother Larissa Evans told ITV News.

AJM Healthcare describes itself as the NHS’ leading provider of wheelchair services. The company supplies approximately 150,000 registered users, representing around 20% of all wheelchair service needs for NHS England.

Yet over the past 12 months, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has seen a sharp rise in complaints. Most relate to people not receiving new wheelchairs or the correct parts, and the waits range from a month to two years.

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Source: ITV News, 8 November 2024