Home > Adults > Enablement >

Wheelchair Services

Checked: 23-05-2023 by Vicky Ryan Next Review: 23-05-2025

Who to refer

The Wheelchair and Specialist Seating Service, at Bristol Centre for Enablement (BCE), is an NHS service commissioned by BNSSG and BaNES ICBs. It can provide wheelchairs and wheelchair seating for long-term mobility needs, including manual and powered wheelchairs and specialist buggies. This includes assessment, provision of wheelchairs, buggies or accessories and on-going equipment maintenance for NHS issued equipment. This service is for children and adults.

For the Wheelchair & Specialist Seating Service to provide you with a wheelchair, you must:

Be registered with a GP in the area covered by the Wheelchair and Special Seating Service
Be of limited mobility, with a long term restriction of walking ability (over 6 months)
Need regular wheelchair use, defined as at least 4 times weekly, for more than one hour, on a regular basis.
Be able to self-propel with no medical contra-indications to this activity, or, if unable to self-propel, have a regular carer who can push the wheelchair safely.

RED Flags

Higher priority may be given to those with deteriorating neurological conditions, where any safety issues surrounding mobility, or their existing NHS equipment, are evident.

Wheelchairs can now be provided where the person has end of life needs or specified as being on the Gold Standard Framework(https://www.goldstandardsframework.org.uk/) They still need to meet the basic service access criteria above. We will provide mobility equipment and pressure care for users whose needs, in this case, may be less than 6 months.

Before referral

It is useful for the Wheelchair & Specialist Seating Service to know how and where the person wants to use a wheelchair.

The service does not provide:

Wheelchairs for short term medical loans.
Outdoor only occupant controlled powered wheelchairs, mobility scooters or add on power units for wheelchairs.
Transit / attendant propelled wheelchairs for nursing or residential home use, except in very specific cases following assessment by the service. Wheelchairs will not be provided to residents of care homes where they do not have provision of other seating.
Armchairs or other static seating / armchairs. Wheelchairs are provided for mobility purposes and not as a replacement for suitable static seating.
Pressure cushions or seating for use in private non NHS wheelchairs.
Shower or commode wheelchairs.

This link is to the full Criteria for referral

Refer

All referral forms are available on EMIS.

You can also refer by using the referral forms below. Forms can be emailed to: wheelchairs@nbt.nhs.uk

GP Wheelchair Access Form May 2024 (New Client). Please note this form is different to that on the NBT website which is for Other Health Care Professionals to use, not GPs. This version has been confirmed as current 10.5.24
Wheelchair Cushion Assessment Form
Existing Client Referral Form
Referral For Indoor/Outdoor Powered Wheelchair Assessment

More forms are available at Referral Section of Bristol Centre for Enablement website

Resources

Service criteria: https://www.nbt.nhs.uk/bristol-centre-enablement/services-at-centre/wheelchairs-special-seating

Efforts are made to ensure the accuracy and agreement of these guidelines, including any content uploaded, referred to or linked to from the system. However, BNSSG ICB cannot guarantee this. This guidance does not override the individual responsibility of healthcare professionals to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual patient, in consultation with the patient and/or guardian or carer, in accordance with the mental capacity act, and informed by the summary of product characteristics of any drugs they are considering. Practitioners are required to perform their duties in accordance with the law and their regulators and nothing in this guidance should be interpreted in a way that would be inconsistent with compliance with those duties.

Information provided through Remedy is continually updated so please be aware any printed copies may quickly become out of date.