Trapped by red tape

Bureaucratic health bosses have told a disabled ex-Serviceman they are taking away his specially-made wheelchair.

Mr Chris Green, 57, of The Ivies, Newark, will not get the wheelchair back until a ramp has been built at his home, despite him starting the process of securing funding for the work.

He said if the chair, issued by Nottinghamshire Community Health, went he would be trapped in his house and lose independence.

Under normal procedures, Mr Green’s wheelchair would be allocated to someone else but his was made specially because of his spinal problems stemming from his time in the Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars when he was a tank driver and gunner.

Once the ramp is installed, Mr Green will have to be fully re-assessed before being issued with a new chair.

He said: “This is bureaucracy gone mad.

“The costs are going to be horrendous because without a wheelchair I will need extensive extra assistance from social services, the NHS and Mansfield Community Hospital.”

Mr Green suffers chronic pain from damaged nerves due to an arthritis in his spine called ankylosing spondylitis.

Part of his spine is fused and he cannot walk without pain, and then only in short bursts. He also has to cope with a number of other conditions, including autism.

Mr Green said Nottinghamshire Community Health had not taken his personal circumstances into account before deciding to remove his wheelchair.

His partner and carer, Mrs Penelope Bryant-Tapp, has been in and out of hospital several times in the last five months with her own health problems.

“I have been more worried about her than about the terms and conditions of usage of my wheelchair,” he said.

Mr Green said Nottinghamshire Community Health’s wheelchair service had not been out to assess his home.

He has, however, been assessed by his occupational therapist at Nottinghamshire County Council who is applying for funding for the ramp to be installed.

At the moment Mr Green drives his powered wheelchair into his garage and walks the short distance into the house.

He moved in July from The Avenue, Newark, after his former landlord sold the property. He said the ground floor at his new home was suitable for his wheelchair.

Mr Green is a member of several community groups, including Newark Civic Trust, Friends of Newark Cemetery and the Royal British Legion.

He researched the names for the Memorial To The Fallen in Newark Cemetery and has published two books with a third on the way.

Mr Green cannot travel on public transport due to his spinal problems and cannot use a mobility scooter.

He said it would take a very fit person to push him in a manual wheelchair as he weighed 18 stone.

The managing director of Nottinghamshire Community Health, Eleri de Gilbert, said: “We are commissioned to provide indoor/outdoor powered chairs.

“The criteria for patients to receive a powered chair for outdoor use is that it is required for mobility both indoor and outdoor but the home must be suitable or adapted to use the chair inside.

“In this case Mr Green has advised us that since moving house he is unable to use the chair indoors as adaptations have not yet been done to the home.

“When homes are not suitable for powered wheelchairs the standard approach is for these to be returned to NCH but a non-powered chair is always offered for patients’ use.

“Mr Green has previously declined this offer but we will discuss this option again with him.

“Once Mr Green’s home is adapted he will be reassessed by the wheelchair services team and if he meets the criteria then we will reissue him with a powered chair suitable for indoor and outdoor use.”