Disabled children facing ‘national crisis’ as cash-strapped Whizz Kidz halts new referrals
Whizz Kidz, the UK charity which provides customised mobility equipment for children and young people, has been forced to stop taking new patients due to a surge in demand.
More than a thousand disabled children across the UK are waiting for wheelchairs and mobility equipment that could transform their lives, Whizz Kidz states.
The charity, however, has been forced to close its specialist wheelchairs waitlist for the first time in its 35-year history.
It says that escalating costs and squeezed NHS budgets are creating a “huge demand” for their service, leading to long delays.
NHS England says it’s working with local healthcare providers to deliver better services and NHS Scotland says it’s committed to ensuring vital services were protected.
The Department for Health Northern Ireland states that by the end of August, the regional service had delivered 87 per cent of all wheelchair categories within 13 weeks.
Whizz Kidz recorded a thousand children waiting for equipment when it decided to close the waitlist, but say many more are missing out.
It pointed to a number of factors for the increase in demand for their services.
The charity says NHS wheelchair services were implementing a stricter criteria whilst facing squeezed budgets.
The charity’s leaders said demand has risen 12.5 per cent year on year because more children are being rejected by the NHS for specialist wheelchairs, which cost on average £4,800, with inflation continuing to push up the cost of equipment.
Sarah Pugh, CEO of Whizz Kidz called the situation “a national crisis”. She commented: “Behind every statistic is a child missing school trips, missing playtime with friends, or living in pain,” she says.
“This cannot be acceptable in the UK in 2025. We urgently need the public’s support to reopen the list – because childhood can’t wait.”
Whizz Kidz has launched the Childhood Can’t Wait appeal, to raise £750,000 to reopen the waitlist and cut waiting times.
