Wheelchair service users’ experiences to shape transition from children’s to adult’s services
An upcoming forum is set to focus on improving young wheelchair users’ transition from children’s to adults’ services across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough by learning from existing service users’ experiences.
Hosted by Healthwatch Cambridgeshire, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Wheelchair Users’ Forum gives people across the area an opportunity to help shape and improve the service for the future.
In May, the forum hosted its first virtual meeting where it identified priorities for the coming year and highlighted that a smoother transition process for young wheelchair users was its highest priority.
Now the forum wants to see better support for young wheelchair users as they move into adult-age services.
Commissioned by Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), the all-age wheelchair service for the region is currently delivered by AJM Healthcare.
For young people with learning disabilities or complex high, wheelchair services is often just one of several services, including education and social care, that they will use.
According to the forum, these services for children are coordinated – especially for young people attending special schools.
The same level of coordination is not in place for adult-age services however, says the organisation, with the forum emphasising that the move to “adult services can be hard to navigate.”
In particular, Healthwatch Cambridgeshire notes that the transition start date for different services commences at different times, adding to the confusion.
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough CCG is now working on improving transition as part of the NHS Long Term Plan.
“The Wheelchair User Forum is pleased to be able to offer its help and support to the CCG on this issue,” says Graham Lewis, Healthwatch Partnership Development Manager, who supports the work of the forum.
The forum is open to the public and scheduled to take place on the 10th of August from 11am to 1pm.
