HAVING THE DISCUSSIONS NEEDED FOR CHANGE
Working towards transforming NHS Wheelchair Services, the Wheelchair Users APPG aims to ensure that all people that use a wheelchair in the UK are able to equitably access education, employment and society across the country.
The APPG for Wheelchair Users is seeking to recommend a highly capable, independent overarching commissioning body for Wheelchair Services. To do so, the APPG first plans to appoint an individual who is responsible for Wheelchair Services across the UK. Through implementing an overarching body for commissioning, there will be shared frameworks, such as the Quality Framework, that providers must stick to. This approach will increase the effectiveness and quality of Wheelchair Services countrywide. Through feedback gained from wheelchair users, through the work of the Wheelchair Alliance, the overarching body will be able to evolve and improve.
The APPG aims to review and revisit the current way of handling data for commissioners and providers. The data and information currently gathered across Wheelchair Services is difficult to meaningfully utilise. There exists few standards as to how to collect this data, how to best use it for the good of patients and how to store it for effective use across the country. Through building a centralised commissioning body, the APPG intends on developing a way for datasets to be produced and used for a more effective and evidence-led service to be provided.
Due to the complex nature of wheelchairs, there is a need for highly skilled clinical individuals to be at the forefront of the services provided for them. The APPG aims to address this through advocating for advanced and highly detailed training to be mandatory for all clinical workers within Wheelchair Services. It is important for these clinicians to recognise that all wheelchair users have uniquely different needs, and the training provided will focus on empowering these workers, to ensure that they are able to provide a flexible and unique approach to everyone they help.
The APPG plans to request a review into the benefits of having dedicated paediatric expertise within wheelchair services, with allocated resources and budget, thus ensuring the right equipment at the right time for all wheelchair users.
For an effective approach, the APPG uses research and the gathered stories of lived experiences of wheelchair users. In doing so, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Wheelchair Users seeks to ensure wheelchair users have the appropriate wheelchair to enable access to all aspects of society – education, training, work, leisure, housing, travel – thereby increasing the benefits to society and decreasing demand on the public purse.
MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT
| Al Pinkerton, MP | Liberal Democrat |
| Alison Hulme, MP | Labour |
| Alistair Strathern, MP | Labour |
| Allison Gardener, MP | Labour (Vice Chair) |
| Ben Coleman, MP | Labour |
| Daisy Cooper, MP | Liberal Democrat |
| Daniel Francis, MP | Labour (Chair) |
| Dawn Butler, MP | Labour |
| Jen Craft, MP | Labour |
| Joe Morris, MP | Labour |
| Juliette Campbell, MP | Labour |
| Katrina Murray, MP | Labour |
| Marsha De Cordova, MP | Labour |
| Mary Kelly Foy, MP | Labour |
| Neil Coyle, MP | Labour |
| Neil Duncan-Jordan, MP | Labour |
| Rachael Maskell, MP | Labour |
| Rachel Taylor, MP | Labour |
| Ruth Cadbury, MP | Labour |
| Ruth Jones, MP | Labour |
MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS
| Baroness Brinton | Liberal Democrat |
| Baroness Grey-Thompson | Cross Bench (Co-Chair) |
| Lord Dodds | Democratic Unionist Party |
| Lord Rennard | Liberal Democrat |
| Lord Shinkwin | Conservative (Officer) |
| Lord Wie | Democratic Unionist Party |
