Accessing Lifesaving Disability Equipment

The newly formed All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Access to Disability Equipment is calling on the public to reveal the barriers they face to accessing lifesaving disability equipment.

Professionals, including medical equipment suppliers and healthcare professionals, as well as individuals with disabilities, their families and their carers, are invited to respond by August 22.

Access to disability equipment remains a major challenge across the UK. The children’s disability charity Newlife, for instance, estimates that only 2 in 5 families with disabled children have access to all the specialist medical equipment they need, while nearly half of local services have reduced their equipment budgets in the past year alone.

“For someone with a disability, access to medical equipment is a lifeline,” said Daniel Francis, the Labour MP for Bexleyheath and Crayford and the APPG Chair (pictured above).

“It enables independent living and brings dignity, opportunity, and freedom. So, it is deeply upsetting that so many people in the UK can't get the equipment they need.

“Everyone should have access to the right equipment at the right time. But for this to happen, we must truly understand the root causes of these prevailing barriers to access impacting so many families.

“This means hearing directly from those impacted, including the carers, professionals, and equipment suppliers all working to make the provision of essential medical equipment more efficient, effective, faster and fairer for all those who depend on it."

Through this call for evidence, Parliamentarians are calling for ideas, input and the experiences of anyone who is involved in the community care sector or has needed to access it.

Members of the public wishing to contribute may do so by completing this short survey, accessible via this link.

The inquiry’s findings will feed into recommendations made by the APPG, intended to drive progress toward a more responsive and person-centred system.