Wiltshire Wheelchair service overview
The Wiltshire Wheelchair Service (WWS) supplies free of charge, the following types of wheelchairs, pressure and postural equipment on the wheelchair from our fleet of wheelchairs, according to your assessed clinical needs:
- Wheelchairs that someone else pushes for you (attendant propelled wheelchair)
- Wheelchairs that you can physically propel yourself (self-propelled wheelchair)
- Powered wheelchairs - mainly for indoor use with outdoor capability, (only when you are unable to walk or self-propel around your home).
- Wheelchairs for children, including buggies (where a shop-bought buggy does not meet your child’s clinical need).
- Pressure-relieving cushions for use in the wheelchair to meet your assessed clinical need
- Special postural seating to help you maintain an optimal sitting posture when you are unable to do this yourself. This could include a tilt in space function on the wheelchair.
- A wheelchair to be used in place of a static chair where the latter would be more appropriate.
- Three or four-wheeled scooters, electric buggies or powered wheelchairs for outdoor use only (also known as EPOCs)
- Wheelchairs that will solely be used in a work situation. These are accessible by other government means, such as Access to Work.
- Wheelchairs to specifically meet sporting requirements.
- Wheelchairs, powered or non-powered, that will solely be used in a school or other place of education. These are provided by application through Education.
- Wheelchairs for portering in hospitals or care homes
- All-weather clothing, rain covers, sunshades or spare tyres.
- Pressure-relieving cushions which are solely for use in an armchair or other seating
- ‘E-motion’ or other assisted hand rim systems
- Or other wheelchair ‘add-ons’ such as bike or trikes or free wheel attachments
You may be eligible for a wheelchair from Wiltshire Wheelchair Service if:
- You are registered with an NHS Wiltshire GP
- You have a long-term physical condition that restricts your mobility and the wheelchair is used by you regularly throughout the week.
- The wheelchair will be required for a minimum of six months unless there is a life expectancy of less than six months that requires a rapid response from the Service
- You have reached your rehabilitation potential and discharged home from hospital
Nursing/ Residential Care homes have a responsibility to provide transit wheelchairs for use in the home grounds and the occasional visits in the community
Wiltshire Wheelchair Service can provide wheelchairs if this promotes independent mobility through use of a:
- self propelling wheelchair
- powered wheelchair
Powered wheelchairs are only provided for people who:
- are unable to walk and/or unable to propel a manual wheelchair indoors.
- have a significant indoor need for a powered chair within your immediate home environment to carry out personal activities of daily living (PADL’s).
- are compliant with the DVLA requirements concerning epilepsy and loss of consciousness i.e. 12 months free of seizures for outdoor use.
- have sufficient sight requirement
- are able to control a powered chair safely and effectively
- The home environment/local terrain must be compatible with a powered chair and have suitable ‘storage’ area with power supply for battery charger.
Buggies
The Wheelchair Service can provide buggies and wheelchairs for children where the child has significant physical difficulties preventing them from moving around.
When a child has Autism Spectrum disorder (ASD) and no physical difficulty, a buggy or wheelchair is sometimes requested because a child runs off, decides to sit down and refuses to walk or has no sense of danger.
However a buggy or wheelchair is a medical device. It is not recommended to use a buggy or wheelchair to manage children’s behaviour .
In all cases, where children are physically capable to walk, the best advice is to encourage walking, and always think about what is in the best interests of the child, as well as what the least restrictive option is.
Wiltshire Wheelchair Service
Melksham Community Hospital,
Spa Road,
Melksham
SN12 7NZ
01225-899130
Our normal working hours are:
8.30am – 4.30pm Monday to Friday.
An answer phone service operates outside normal working hours including weekends and bank holidays.
Our team consists of:
- Clinical team:
- wheelchair therapists (physiotherapists and occupational therapists) and Clinical Assistant Practitioner (CAP)
- rehabilitation engineer and Clinical Assistant Technician (CAT) - Delivery and Repair team (DART)
- Admin team
Our wheelchair therapists are either fully qualified Occupational Therapist or Physiotherapist and are registered with the Health and Care Professions Council. You can check if your wheelchair therapist is registered on this website by looking in the Occupational and/or Physiotherapy category. We have both male and female therapists.
We have a therapy assistant who has fulfilled her CAP training through Wiltshire Health and Care trust.
We frequently have Occupational or Physiotherapy students from University of the West of England gaining experience in this field of expertise.
You will be asked if it is alright with you to be seen by a student or for a student to sit in with an appointment. You can say no to this. The student is well supervised by our qualified staff and they also keep in close contact with a University tutor during their placement
Our Delivery and Repair team (DART) have received training through the wheelchair service and have the required skills to deliver and repair the wheelchairs supplied by Wiltshire Wheelchair Service.
DART may come to your home or can repair your wheelchair on site, providing an appointment has been made. They do not provide roadside repairs or recovery home.
When contacting WWS about a repair please provide your name, address and details of exactly what the problem is with your wheelchair. If more than one wheelchair has been provided by the service, please state which wheelchair requires the repair.
Our Administration Team is usually your first contact with the department, either on the telephone or when you attend your appointment. Be mindful that they are not trained to know specific details about wheelchairs however they will do their best to deal with your query, or will pass your query to a clinician.
Wiltshire Wheelchair Service will maintain the wheelchairs supplied under the NHS however it will continue to be the property of the NHS. There will be an understanding that you look after our equipment and keep it in clean and in good working condition. WWS will maintain and repair our NHS provided wheelchairs and accessories free of charge for reasonable wear and tear except in cases of repeated misuse, neglect or wilful damage.
It is not always possible to repair a wheelchair immediately and a loan wheelchair may be issued but will not necessarily be the same specification as your permanent wheelchair.
It is always our aim to provide the best service possible and to enable us to achieve this we really welcome your feedback following your experience with Wiltshire Wheelchair Service