Dr Allison Gardner

It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Daniel Francis) on securing this important debate, and on his excellent work across the board on wheelchair services through the APPG that he leads. As vice-chair of the APPG for wheelchair users, this debate is incredibly close to my heart. The reason I became part of the APPG is that so many of my constituents were contacting me in desperate need of a new wheelchair or vital wheelchair repairs. One young lad, Noah, had long outgrown his moulded wheelchair to the point that it was becoming unsafe and causing him harm. When he went into hospital for spinal surgery, despite being well enough to be discharged, he could not leave for weeks because he did not have a safe wheelchair to go home with. Disabled people, including children, with life-limiting conditions have been left waiting for up to two years to receive a new wheelchair. In the young life of a child such as Noah, that is unacceptable. They are left in pain in unsuitable chairs, and some of my constituents are unable to leave the house altogether because their chair has broken down. The long waits have affected my constituents’ physical and mental health, and have placed great strain on their carers. Preston, the 19-year-old son of my constituent, Kelly Williams, was left with a collapsing wheelchair for six months before vital repairs were made, and it was a further four months before his wheelchair was eventually replaced. Preston lives with a progressive brain disease. He cannot walk or bear weight, and for almost an entire year he was forced to sit in an uncomfortable chair that was not fit for purpose. That is completely unacceptable. When many of my constituents contacted AJM, the previous provider, there was a complete lack of communication and an all-round failure to consider their needs. I will name one more constituent among the many: an ex-Paralympic medallist, Ian Marsden, runs the risk of being bedridden because, if his broken wheelchair is not fixed, he is stuck. Having raised the issue with the ICB, I was pleased to see that it issued a performance notice against the provider in August last year, but the fact that enforcement action had to be taken raises serious concerns about contract oversight, risk escalation and safeguarding of disabled service users. The service went out to retender; a new provider has been appointed and is due to start, as my hon. Friend the Member for Lichfield (Dave Robertson) outlined. The contract was awarded on 24 February 2026. I trust that lessons are learned, but a new contract means that wheelchair users in Stoke-on-Trent South will once again have to get used to a new system and possibly a service in a new location. I strongly encourage the ICB to be diligent in monitoring and reviewing the performance of the new contractor. Playing the blame game with previous providers, as AJM did, will not wash this time. At this point, I will slightly veer off track to express the significant concerns regarding the changes to car mobility schemes, which were raised by my constituent Ryan. With those changes in mind, it is even more vital that we get wheelchair services right. Given the history and legacy of these issues, I strongly support an independent review body to oversee wheelchair provision and ensure that wheelchair users receive an outstanding service. The time is now, and I ask the Minister to act and fix this situation—it is bad in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire, but it is a national issue.