Thousands of children are confronted with a long waiting time on vital wheelchairs as NHS changes rise, and the only charities of the UK are forced to stop taking new patients because of an increase in demand.
Whiz Kids, the leading charity institution of the VK for specialized wheelchair services, has warned that patients are confronted with a “national crisis” after an unprecedented pressure on its services for the first time has forced new references to close new references.
The leaders of the charity said that the demand has risen by 12.5 percent year on year, because more children are rejected by the NHS for specialized wheelchairs, which cost an average of £ 4,800 due to cost problems.
One of those children, Charlie Drinking Water, who has Spina Bifida and growth hormone deficiency, a specialized chairman of the NHS has been refused for the past five years.
Although she is eight years old, she is the size of a two -year -old, so she needs a specialized chair that can cost up to £ 4,500. Due to the budget restrictions, however, the NHS does not offer any seats among 5-year-olds, according to Whiz Kids. The NHS would only offer her a buggy, even though they are 8 years old.
Now it has grown from the first chair that was provided by the charity and rejected by the NHS, Charlie's youth is on hold while waiting for a new one.
She told The independent: “I am excited for my new chair because it will be pink. But it makes me sad if it takes a long time.”
Charlie (Whizz Children)
Charlie's family said: “I had no idea that charities such as Whiz Kidz even existed until Charlie was born. Without them, Charlie's independence and quality of life would disappear at night. They are not 'fun to have' – they are a line of life.”
Figures for January 2025 to March 2026, seen by The independent, Show 1,676 children waited more than three months after a reference to NHS roles of roles. Of these, 875 were assessed as “high” or “specialized needs”. Another 1,700 patients were rejected by the NHS after they were assessed as “no equipment needed”.
Whiz -children told The independent The fact that an increase in patients who were rejected from the NHS had further charged the waiting lists, forcing new references to averted for the first time in 35 years, with more than 1,000 children who currently need wheelchairs.
Sarah Pugh, Chief Executive for Whiz Kids, said they had to “make the” heartbreaking decision after the question “had risen in recent years”.
She said: “Mainly, the NHS criteria for wheelchairs are small because the budget is small. So we get up effectively and fill that gap, but now it is at a point where we just can't do it. The increase in demand for us has to correlate with pressing NHSbudgetten.
“We hear about many children who are trapped at home because they cannot get out of it … We have never had to make applications before. It is a crisis because children do not have wheelchairs, they cannot continue with their youth, they lose very critical and very important days of their youth … This is a national crisis.”
She said that the NHS criteria are “very strict” and that most children under the age of 5 do not get a wheelchair and get a buggy instead, which means that children do not independence and the ability to explore the world.
Charlie, was supported by WHIZZ Kids Charity (Whizz Children)
According to a recent study among patients, 60 percent of children who live in discomfort or pain reported because of no wheelchair or the right wheelchair.
Whiz Kids has now appealed to financing to help it reopen his list and to reduce the number of children.
Other charities, such as Variety, who support disabled children and young people in the United Kingdom, said under -financing within NHS Rolstool Services left children in “desperate situations”.
The Chief Executive, Laurence Guinness, said that the news about whizz children was “deeply worrying”, but “unfortunately not surprising” and it also saw an increase in applications.
She said, “Chronic under -financing and systemic delays within NHS roles of roles leave children in already poor families in desperate situations.”
“If our legal services do not offer, the burden to charities and, the most disturbing, shifts to the families themselves, who often navigate through a challenging system to get the support they need. This is a systemic failure, and it is our children who pay the price.”
A spokesperson for NHS England said: “We know how crucial timely access to a wheelchair is for patients, which is why the NHS offers personal wheelchair budgets for people with a long -term condition to choose a wheelchair that meets their individual needs.
