Wheelchairs !!!

It’s not till you are having to deal with all the various agencies such as the DHSS, Inland Revenue, Physio’s, Occupational Therapists etc etc, that you find out how much Bureaucracy there is involved in anything to do with Disability Issue’s and I guess most other people having problems too.  An example of this was that due to my rapid loss of weight and muscle and fitness levels being reduced I was in need of a Wheelchair to enable me to be able to get out of the house occasionally even if just for a walk. Or rather a push around the block for a change of scenery.  The process involved firstly getting the Physio to assess that there was a need for it in the first place, then a referral to and Occupational Therapist to come and do pretty much the same thing.  Just this part alone took about 4 weeks.  My details were then passed on to the Department that dealt with Wheelchairs.  They wrote to me after about 2 weeks to let me know that someone will come and measure me up for a chair in 3 months. That day finally came and indeed went by being told that I would have to wait around 6 weeks for the chair to be delivered from a Company that is about 20 miles from us.   Great Service I thought. So it actually took from start to finish about 24 weeks/6 months.  A highly Efficient, Helpful, Stress Free Experience I think not !!!!!.  I actually after going through all this needed to get another lighter wheelchair for getting around upstairs and taking in the car etc which is a whole other story which I might just share with you all one day.  Well that feels a bit better now I’ve had my first little rant and believe me  there will be plenty more where that came from.

What I think that I need to add to this is that most of the people involved in this whole thing were lovely helpful people and that really the problem lies in the Red Tape involved in the whole process.