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Care Opinion

Waiting for moulded seating

Posted By mummyofamiracle

"Waiting for moulded seating"

(as a parent/guardian),

Hi . I am the parent of a teenager who requires a specialised wheelchair. Back in May 2017 i had wheelchair technician and a rep out to our home to assess my child and was done as a matter of urgency due to my child being in severe pain from wrong moulded seating and unable to travel in it longer than 20 minutes.

The quote was sent to the Wheelchair Services a few days later. Our O.T has since contacted the wheelchair service and has had no response from them. I myself have contacted them and had no response. O.T then spoke to the organisation and we now know that no order has been placed with them for my child’s moulded seat.

My child is in agony when travelling to school and back, we can't even get him out and about in it because of the pain. This isn’t good enough , no child should have to suffer like this especially when he faces enough issues on daily basis fighting.

Can you please advise me where to turn to next as it’s going to come that I can no longer get him to school in wheelchair he currently has. Absolutely disgusting service.

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Responses

Response from Kirsten Dickson, Quality Improvement and Assurance Facilitator, Quality Improvement and Assurance Team, NHS Grampian 6 years ago
Kirsten Dickson
Quality Improvement and Assurance Facilitator, Quality Improvement and Assurance Team,
NHS Grampian

Submitted on 10/10/2017 at 17:42
Published on Care Opinion at 20:33

picture of Kirsten Dickson

(Please see the below response from the Woodend, Mobility and Rehabilitation Service)

Hi mummyofamiracle,

Thank you for posting feedback on your challenges with provision of moulded seating and communication with the wheelchair service, we are sorry to hear that you and your son have experienced these issues. We have looked into this and have been advised that the new seat for your son has unfortunately taken much longer than it should have. The supply of the new seat has been prioritised and we have been in touch to set up an appointment for the delivery, which you are aware of. We trust that the new seat will meet your son’s needs and please accept our sincere apologies for the unacceptable delay and for the lack of communication from the service.

Please be assured that the wheelchair service are now reviewing their ordering procedures to reduce the likelihood of similar issues occurring.

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by mummyofamiracle (a parent/guardian)

Hi. I am disappointed that I am having to go through this same problem once again. My child’s moulded seating did arrive as promised after last complaint only it was far too small giving the length of time we needed to wait for it. It was then decided that our wheelchair service and SOS would go to my child’s school together and get new mould done along with his mould for sleep pod (private funded). This took place 4 weeks ago and SOS delivered his sleep pod today but no moulded seat. Reason being once again our wheelchair services haven’t funded the company or given the go ahead to make the seat.

I have had to take my child out of full time education because we don’t have suitable seating to allow him to be comfy in school and travelling. His current seat is far too small and he is in severe pain using it.this situation has went on far too long now and my child is suffering due to whatever issues is causing these delays.

He was moulded 4 weeks ago and ideally he should have his new chair 4 weeks after mould so we have some sort of similarity, the longer we wait is causing more damage to his spine. It was recommended that he had 24hr posture care because he wasn’t suitable for any surgery/spinal vest/Lycra suits, yet 2yr later we still don’t have correct seating. Our OT contacted wheelchair service over 2 weeks ago and was promised his chair would be ordered immediately and hasn’t heard from wheelchair service since even though she had tried to contact them time after time. I would be grateful if this was given your priority to respond too as my next step is contacting the press and making our story front page!

The service we have received is appalling and something needs to be done! Absolutely raging at the lack of care my son has received by our wheelchair service. In my view they are well aware of how much pain my child is in due to incorrect seating.

Response from Kirsten Dickson, Quality Improvement and Assurance Facilitator, Quality Improvement and Assurance Team, NHS Grampian 6 years ago
Kirsten Dickson
Quality Improvement and Assurance Facilitator, Quality Improvement and Assurance Team,
NHS Grampian

Submitted on 07/03/2018 at 12:17
Published on Care Opinion at 12:41

picture of Kirsten Dickson

(Please see the below response from the Woodend, Mobility and Rehabilitation Service)

Hi mummyofamiracle

I am sorry that this remains a problem. Following your recent telephone discussions with the Wheelchair Service and their negotiations with the supplier of the seat, the delivery date has been brought forward. The supplier is not one that we normally use for wheelchair seats and unfortunately there were challenges in getting the ordering process to work efficiently in the best interests of your son and this did delay the order for the wheelchair seat by a couple of weeks. We are sorry for this delay and apologise for not communicating that to you. The Wheelchair Service is aware of the importance of comfortable and supportive seating for your son and they are giving priority to getting the new seat delivered as quickly as possible.

We hope that your son will be comfortable in his new seat and the Wheelchair Service will be happy for you to contact them in the future to review the seat when he needs adjustment to keep up with his growth.

Please accept our sincere apologies that the new seat has not been supplied as quickly as we had all hoped and that you have had difficulty in getting a quick response from the service to your enquiry about the time for delivery of the seat.

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful
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