Durkan shocked at 'wheelchair lottery'

Foyle MP Mark Durkan said there are vast differences in the amount of funding offered towards paying for a wheelchair, leaving many patients out of pocket.

Mr Durkan attended a parliamentary reception at Westminster to speak to muscle disease patients and carers about the problems they have experienced in getting a wheelchair suited to their needs.

He said some had waited for over a year for equipment, while others had to rely on charity funding to cover the thousands of pounds the NHS were unable to award them.

Mr Durkan said: “I was shocked to learn of the challenges patients and their families face in trying to get a wheelchair to suit their needs. I am keen to back them in their campaign and hope I can be of help in improving wheelchair services for patients in Derry and throughout the North.”

The Muscular Dystrophy Campaign’s Head of Policy and Campaigns, Nic Bungay, said: “We are very pleased to have the support of Mark Durkan in our campaign for wheelchair services to be improved.

“The right wheelchair is massively important to a muscular dystrophy patient, and that some people are being deprived of this essential equipment because of long waiting times or poor funding is unacceptable.”

To find out more about wheelchair services and the work of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign go to www.muscular-dystrophy.org.