Care Opinion

Wheelchair is reducing our resident's quality of life

Posted By controllerjb43

"Wheelchair is reducing our resident's quality of life"

About: WestMARC (West of Scotland Mobility and Rehabilitation Centre)

(as a staff member posting for a patient/service user),

A wheelchair supplied to one of our residents by WestMARC is not fit for purpose. The resident's quality of life is severely reduced as he is not able to access community, due to the chair not being deemed as safe to use.

The wheelchair has been adapted on numerous occasions and still presents an issue. We had a significant near miss earlier this year where the wheelchair tipped with resident in it.

Due to not being ergonomically designed 4 of our staff members have received injuries, with one staff member on long term sickness absence, taking strong painkilling medication.

We have sent an official letter to WestMARC and to Social Work. WestMARC are not engaging with us. We have a duty of care to our staff under section 2 of the H&S at Work Act and WestMARC also have responsibilities under PUWER regulations.

We would appreciate a response and support on the matter above.

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Responses

Response from Karl Lees, Interim Clinical Lead, WestMARC, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde last month
Karl Lees
Interim Clinical Lead, WestMARC,
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

Submitted on 06/09/2024 at 18:13
Published on Care Opinion on 07/09/2024 at 09:16

Dear Controllerjb43,

Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention regarding the prescribed wheelchair. We are genuinely sorry to hear that the equipment has not met your expectations and has resulted in injury to your support workers which has reduced use of this mobility equipment and impacted on your residents quality of life. Your feedback is extremely important to us, and we take this issue very seriously.

We are committed to resolving this issue as quickly as possible and would appreciate if you could contact me on 0300 790 0129 so that we can arrange an urgent review of your resident's prescription with a view to resolving your concerns as a priority.

Regards

Karl Lees

Interim clinical lead WestMARC

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