Girl, 6, left waiting for new wheelchair for a year

A six-year-old girl has been left waiting for a new wheelchair for more than a year after the NHS changed its supplier.

Alba, who has a rare genetic condition which means she is unable to walk and is non-verbal, has now outgrown the wheelchair she has been using since she was three.

She was measured for a new chair in January 2025, but is still waiting for it to arrive.

Blatchford Mobility, which took over the NHS contract to supply wheelchairs in April 2025, said its contract was only for new cases, but it has been working with the NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board to help clear the backlog.

Alba's parents, Dan and Melissa, from Clay Cross, said they had struggled to find out why their daughter had been left waiting for a new wheelchair for so long.

Melissa said: "The problem is her current chair is way too small. She has had it since she was three and it cannot get any bigger, it's at its maximum capacity.

"It's causing her to get bruises on her hips."

She added: "All we want is for her to get the right size chair so she can have that freedom, so she is safe and able to learn with all her school friends and not be restricted."

Dan said: "Alba's strength has progressed this last year or two and we just don't want that stunted. So she needs this chair to grow and evolve with her."

NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board oversees the supply of wheelchairs and awards a contract to a manufacturer to provide them.

The contract was held previously by AJM Healthcare, but it changed contractors after Healthwatch Derbyshire issued a report in February 2024 which found users and carers had experienced long waiting times for new wheelchairs and parts.

It appointed Blatchford in April last year, but the contract was only for new cases and backlog of 2,018 people waiting for wheelchairs was not transferred to the new provider.

In a statement Beth Pitcairn, service excellence manager at Blatchford Ltd, said: "We understand Alba's case and are doing our best to escalate it with NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board, so that Alba and her family can get the support they need.

"While our contract only relates to new cases, we worked closely with NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board to support patients on the inherited waiting list - and reduced this list by around 50%.

"The process we have agreed with NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board is that complex cases like Alba's are escalated to them. They are now developing a plan for how to support these escalated cases."

The integrated care board said the backlog of people waiting is now down to 978 from 2,018.

A spokesperson added: "We're very sorry to hear about cases of people waiting too long for their equipment and are trying very hard to reduce these waits.

"We aim to prioritise those with the highest clinical needs and to help speed things up. Extra clinics have been added along with increased capacity for complex seating.

"We are now working through the remaining cases and hope to be able to bring the remaining list down significantly in the near future.

"Those who are waiting will be contacted in due course, but if you feel your needs have changed significantly during your wait please make contact with Blatchfords."

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