Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to help improve wait times for children requiring equipment from the NHS wheelchair service; and if his Department will make an estimate of the average waiting time for provision of mobility equipment for children as of 7 November 2022.

NHS England’s model service specification for wheelchair and posture is currently under review to develop a framework for integrated care systems to commission effective, efficient and personalised wheelchair services, including for those under five years old.

Since July 2015, NHS England has collected quarterly data for the National Wheelchair Dataset, which supports improvements in wheelchair services. The data also examines waiting times at stages in the pathway to enable targeted action if improvement is required.

The National Wheelchair Dataset collates the percentage of children receiving equipment in less than 18 weeks of being referred to the wheelchair service within the quarterly reporting period. In July to September 2022, 80% of children had received the prescribed equipment within 18 weeks or less.