Trapped - but why?
by Elaine Bowers


HOUSEBOUND: Andrew Napier has been unable to get to Cappielow to see his beloved Morton play because his carer-controlled, electric wheelchair has been taken away by the West of Scotland Mobility and Rehabilitation Centre who say they cannot fund a suitable replacement.

Photo Credit: George Munro

LIKE many young people in their 20s, Donna McKeown and Andrew Napier enjoy going out to socialise with friends and attend day centres and art classes. Unlike other people their age, they have been housebound for long periods due to a shortage of funding to provide them with electronically-powered, carer-controlled wheelchairs. Now their relatives and carers at Quarriers, Bridge of Weir, have enlisted the help of MSP Trish Godman who is lobbying the Scottish Executive in a bid to get more cash to ensure others like Donna and Andrew do not also find their freedom suddenly curtailed.



DONNA McKeown has been housebound for much of this year — and all because of a lack of funding to replace her carer-controlled, electric wheelchair worth around £3,000.

Until early last year the 26-year old, who has complex physical and learning disabilities, had a wheelchair perfect for her needs. It was electronically powered and designed so it could be controlled by her family and carers.

But when the special wheelchair she had used for 11 years broke down, the West of Scotland Mobility and Rehabilitation Centre (Westmarc) replaced it with a manual wheelchair that is unsuitable.

Donna, who has giantism, is too heavy for her mum, Christine, to push in a normal wheelchair. The ordinary chair is also too wide to fit into her mobility vehicle.

Now, instead of getting out to meet friends in Greenock and Port Glasgow, or to attend her much-loved art classes, Donna has to stay at her home in Quarrier’s Village, where she is looked after along with five other young people who also have a range of disabilities.

Christine said: “If Donna hasn’t got her chair, she hasn’t got a life. Donna is very sociable and likes to see her family, who live all around Glasgow, and to visit her friends in Greenock and Port Glasgow. She loves shopping and attends art classes, but she couldn’t get to them.”

Donna’s plight has frustrated her mum, who feels her daughter is being discriminated against. Christine said: “She has a right to get out just as everyone of us has. When I push her in a normal wheelchair and go up and down the pavements I can see Donna tensing up. With the electric chair, as I call it, she is not as frightened, shaky or anxious. I feel this is an abuse of her rights. If she doesn’t have a wheelchair, her rights to go out have been taken away.”

Christine’s views are shared by staff at Quarriers, who have looked after Donna for eight years.

Project manager Helen Stewart acknowledged Westmarc was prepared to provide Donna with a regular wheelchair but said because of her size and frustrations she has now broken several, which she argues is not cost effective

Helen said: “They will provide wheelchairs that are manual and electronically-powered but they will not provide electronically-powered wheelchairs operated by carers.

“They are discriminating against people who are not able to control the chair themselves. The wheel fell off Donna’s electronic chair and Westmarc took it, we thought, for repair, but they said it was condemned and couldn’t be repaired and they don’t have the funding for another carer-controlled wheelchair.”

Donna receives a mobility allowance of £155 a month to enable her to use a vehicle to get out and about. Without a suitable wheelchair, she has been unable to use her van for a-year-and-a-half, although it still has to be paid for.

And Donna’s problem is not unique.

Andrew Napier, 23, is in a similar situation. He lives in the same house in Quarriers and had a carer-controlled powered chair until it was removed by Westmarc early in 2006.

Now he has been housebound for much of the last 11 months, unable to go to the McPherson Day Centre in Gourock as normal, or to Cappielow to watch Morton play football.

The manual wheelchair he was given to replace his carer-controlled chair is not stable enough for his needs, as he has a tendency to rock. It has been fitted with anti-tip leavers but these are said to be hazardous for other people and have not stopped the chair tipping, or Andrew falling out.

Andrew’s family can no longer take him out for walks, as they are not strong enough to push him up hills.

Kate Sanford, policy manager for Quarriers, said: “We were advised by the assessors at Westmarc that funding restrictions prohibit the provision of a carer-controlled, electrically-powered chair, even though this had been previously provided and appeared to be the most appropriate for his needs.”

Quarriers staff say disabled people who can control electronic wheelchairs themselves are not affected by the problems being faced by Donna and Andrew. Kate told the Tele there was a review of NHS wheelchair and seating services in March last year that states ‘service delivery should be based on holistic requirements and not coloured by available funding for equipment’. However, as Kate points out, Donna and Andrew’s situation ‘clearly shows a gap in this service’.

Kate has lodged a complaint with NHS bosses at Westmarc but said NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde was adamant it could not reinstate the carer-controlled electric wheelchairs Andrew and Donna used because of funding constraints.

Now Kate has contacted Trish Godman MSP for support. Kate said: “I am going to work with Trish to see how we can best try to get funding. We want the Scottish Government to provide funding.”

It would cost just £4,000 to provide Andrew with the chair he needs, while the style required by Donna is just £3,000.

As they can see no other way of resolving the problem, staff at Quarriers have decided to buy Donna and Andrew the chairs they need from their own funds.

Kate said: “This obviously means a voluntary organisation is yet again having to prop up under-funded public services.”

MSP Trish said: “I have met Donna and Andrew in Quarriers. It is a disgrace they find themselves confined to Quarriers because they cannot get the proper carer-controlled, electronic wheelchairs.

“I have taken the matter up with ministers and I will continue to do so. I have also asked for the matter to be put on the agenda at the next meeting of the Cross Party Group for Disability. I am sure I will receive cross party support.

“I intend to put down some parliamentary questions and get some publicity on the matter in the parliament as I am sure there must be other members with constituents in this situation. I will continue to pursue the matter until it is resolved.”

A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “No attendant controlled, powered wheelchair has been removed from any patient for reasons of cost.

“These are replaced whenever another type of chair is found to be equally, or more, suitable for the patient, or when they are no longer fit for use and become beyond repair.

“It has been agreed by the six West of Scotland health boards that make up Westmarc, that Westmarc should no longer issue new attendant-controlled, powered wheelchairs.”

http://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/a...sec=1&id=17987