The wait for equipment is too long, campaigners say

Parents and supporters insist urgent funding is needed to cut the long queues for assessment and equipment.

Lothians MSP Margo MacDonald met Health Minister Andy Kerr on Thursday to argue for immediate investment.

The Scottish Executive said it was setting up a review to reassess wheelchair provision.

Kasim Ashfaq, who will be four next week, has been waiting since July to be assessed for a new chair.

His mother, Azrah, expects it will be months after his birthday before he actually gets the chair he needs.

She said life was hard enough for Kasim, who has cerebral palsy, without being denied the essentials of everyday life.

Parliament has been petitioned by families

"He's in a chair which really is an instrument of torture because it's small for him," she said.

"He has difficulty in it, he's not positioned correctly in it, which is extremely important for cerebral palsy children.

"In effect, it is quite dangerous because of the fact it's now small.

"Children like him throughout Scotland are having to wait so long because of the bureaucracy and red tape and it simply cannot be allowed to go on anymore."

Campaigners say there are thousands more children waiting for the help they say is their basic human right.

Margaret Scott has been campaigning for a national review and more funding to cut the queues since her own child, who is now a teenager, first needed help.

'Widespread' problem

She said: "The problems are widespread, they're from Orkney and Shetland down to the Borders.

"We have lots of contact with parents and families, children are having to wait months and months to be assessed and then often up to a year, over a year, to get an essential piece of equipment."

Disability campaigners have delivered a petition of 1,500 signatures demanding a widespread rethink on mobility services and increased investment in wheelchair provision.

It's just not fair, these are children whose lives are being absolutely ruined Margo MacDonald MSP

Among the signatories was Karen Sutherland who has cerebral palsy.

She said: "It isn't like buying a pair of trainers, you have to consider everything and it's so frustrating sometimes because if you get assessed then you have to wait six months until your chair arrives.

"By the time you get your chair, you've grown out of it."

Ms MacDonald, an independent MSP, said Mr Kerr must act to address the problem.

She said: "Andy Kerr has got to say that he's going to make sure that the waiting time for chairs is slashed."

"I want action and I want action now, it's just not fair, these are children whose lives are being absolutely ruined."

The Scottish Executive said it recognised there was a need to reassess wheelchair provision.