>>>NO. NHS wheelchairs technically have a 5 year life at least that is my understanding.
They replace mine every 3 because I USE them.
>>>So they should replace the chair, however they don't do proper outdoor chairs. Like BM says you have to pay the difference for something better. As for a manual chair their life is massive, my NHS manual chair for transport is over 15 years old. If it has been a long time though since their visit, you will need a re-assessment and that can take up to 2 years of waiting.
They told me 18 months. I assessed myself and ordered a chair, sent them the assessement and the bill. They came and assessed me in around 9 days with a group of 3 of them. Non had a clue. They paid me eveything other than the upgrade for the 6mph I chose. The difference amounted to a couple of hundred pounds. And they threw in a seat back to help cover that. But they sent me a cheque based on the price THEY pay, so basically 66% of the retail cost. But if you organize yourself you can get almost that back as a discount. They also covered an amount for service and repairs, and a seat cushion at around 400 in my case.
It all depends on your assessed needs. Beat them to it and write your own assessement and send copies to every part of the hospital administration and the WCS yourself. With the bill. Explaining why you were not in a position to wait while they bothered. I had to do this several times to get any movement from them. And yes politics. Why do you think its this hard? Socialist medicine. Nobody cares about anything other than getting paid, and meetings, coffee, rules, paperwork, and pushing responsibility further along an endless chain. Dont let them.
i have tried to apply for the pwb and see what happens as tina has never had anything from wcs other than a huge black beast of a thing i was meant to push her in and was far to heavy and never got used its behind my shed in the scrap pile now as they would not take it back or replace it so i bought her first powerchair but if you get it does it affect p.i.p i wonder?
It doesent. Neither does a care budget. Same thing.
But that 'tried to apply' wont get you far. You have to FIGHT them. They will ignore you, and hope it goes away. Or tell you complete bullshit to stop you getting any further. They will make up a set of eules that prevent you on the fly. They will do anything possible to keep you from their money, any kind of action, and especially a powerchair budget. Do not ask, TELL them. Again, this IS political! Thats the reason you will need to fight them for your rights. Socialistic medicine doesnt care. It goes out of its way to avoid actually doing ANYTHING that means leaving that warm office. Try getting them to call you back on a phone! Its a joke.