Wheelchairs help 27 September 2010 at 1:53PM in Disability Money Matters 10 replies 1.8K views

Lolly99

Well.. recently regretedly my mobility has gotten worse to the point where i am housebound when oh is out. Now im grappling with the scooter/manual wheelchair debate and are looking online for such. My oh and I have a motorbility car so unfortunately cant get a scooter on that as much as i would love too, so for getting it in my car im thinking a folding manual wheelchair would be best (its a small car fiat 500). I've been looking online at prices and have been shocked and angered at the price of wheelchairs that dont look like nhs rejects! One company Davinci wheelchairs are charging £2000!! What my main question is does anyone know a company i can look at online at for a wheelchair that wont push my self esteem down any further thats priced in a range that wont give me a heart attack?? :rotfl:

ShelBell

I got my mobility scooter second hand on ebay for £140, bargain. It is in excellent condition and I've had it nearly 2 years already. I had one through motability previously but was galled at how much I was paying!

I would look around a few mobility shops at different models of chairs and what size etc you would need, then hunt one down second hand through ebay, preloved, gumtree etc.

bertiebat

ShelBell wrote: »

I got my mobility scooter second hand on ebay for £140, bargain. It is in excellent condition and I've had it nearly 2 years already. I had one through motability previously but was galled at how much I was paying!

I would look around a few mobility shops at different models of chairs and what size etc you would need, then hunt one down second hand through ebay, preloved, gumtree etc.

Good advice and just what I did (though I researched online)! Very happy with my TGA eclipse scooter bought off Ebay which easily breaks down into smaller pieces and fits into my boot. :j

Good luck with the hunt Lolly99

rosysparkle

I bought a Quickie RXS wheelchair from ebay for £250. It's reasonably lightweight, folds up easily so my kids can get it into the boot of the car, and best of all it's purple (OK that's not the best thing, but it's a fun thing).

sunnyone

Lolly99 wrote: »

Well.. recently regretedly my mobility has gotten worse to the point where i am housebound when oh is out. Now im grappling with the scooter/manual wheelchair debate and are looking online for such. My oh and I have a motorbility car so unfortunately cant get a scooter on that as much as i would love too, so for getting it in my car im thinking a folding manual wheelchair would be best (its a small car fiat 500). I've been looking online at prices and have been shocked and angered at the price of wheelchairs that dont look like nhs rejects! One company Davinci wheelchairs are charging £2000!! What my main question is does anyone know a company i can look at online at for a wheelchair that wont push my self esteem down any further thats priced in a range that wont give me a heart attack?? :rotfl:

Have you been refered to wheelchair services in your area?

I have NHS manual wheelchairs and a powerchair that fit my needs, my wheelchair services are great, your GP can refer you.

My wheelchairs dont look like NHS rejects, but they are NHS expensive mobility aids that allow me to have a bit of mobility on my own, what do you want in a manual chair?

I know of someone whos a part time user getting a Ti from the NHS as a first wheelchair, I myself have had everything from active user lightweight (when i was able to use one and I still have one as my NHS spare, Im a full time wheelie btw) to my powerchair, which the wheelchair services have in principle agreed to exchange if I get a WAV to a crash tested powerchair.

jazabelle

I have just applied for an NHS wheelchair by a form given to me by my doctor, could you try that Lolly? I'm unsure if I will meet the criteria yet for one (as they do not state their eligibility) but it states that you must be a full time indoor user to get a powered one.

Fingers crossed I get one, it would make such a difference to me.

bigbigmamamoo

other than ebay, the least expensive way to get a top-spec wheelchair is to try and buy a ex-demo chair. cyclome mobility sell their lightweight wheelchairs for £2k but have ex-demo ones for £600-£900, still expensive, but good for what you are getting

System

You should really get reffered to an occupational therapist by your GP- the wait might be a while but you'll not get ripped off by these private companies (my mam works as an NHS Occupational therapist and she is always so worried about people going for private mobility without proper consultations!!). They will assess your needs and if you can't get the right chair on the NHS they always have a lot of help and advice .

Corpsebride86

:eek: £2000! was it a specialised chair????

Im on a placement at a mobility company and we supply NHS independent voucher chairs, so I would not reccommend you go down the ebay route as badly sized wheelchairs can cause all sorts of other health problems.

The best thing for you to do is:

• Contact your G.P for a referral to your local SMRC (Specialist Mobility Rehabilitation Centre) or WAC (Wheelchair Assessment Centre)
• Go to see them and they will assess your needs for a wheelchair and they will measure you up for a fitting wheelchair.
• They will issue you a voucher for either the full or part cost of a wheelchair that you can take to a mobility shop (they should have a list of approved suppliers in your local area that they can give you) the standard value of the voucher is £302.50 and you can go and pick out a light weight wheelchair! as long as the chair meets your clinical needs! If the chair comes to more than the cost of the voucher you need to pay the difference.

Our local SMRC has just run out of funding and have applied for more so it may be a case of you need to go on a waiting list but the assessment centre will be more able to advise you on that! I would definately go and see your G.P though.

Another route you can go down is contact your local disability information centre if you have one or age uk they can usually reccommend places to purchase or hire such items from.

Chorlie

Corpsebride86 wrote: »

:eek: £2000! was it a specialised chair????

Im on a placement at a mobility company and we supply NHS independent voucher chairs, so I would not reccommend you go down the ebay route as badly sized wheelchairs can cause all sorts of other health problems.

The best thing for you to do is:

• Contact your G.P for a referral to your local SMRC (Specialist Mobility Rehabilitation Centre) or WAC (Wheelchair Assessment Centre)
• Go to see them and they will assess your needs for a wheelchair and they will measure you up for a fitting wheelchair.
• They will issue you a voucher for either the full or part cost of a wheelchair that you can take to a mobility shop (they should have a list of approved suppliers in your local area that they can give you) the standard value of the voucher is £302.50 and you can go and pick out a light weight wheelchair! as long as the chair meets your clinical needs! If the chair comes to more than the cost of the voucher you need to pay the difference.

Our local SMRC has just run out of funding and have applied for more so it may be a case of you need to go on a waiting list but the assessment centre will be more able to advise you on that! I would definately go and see your G.P though.

Another route you can go down is contact your local disability information centre if you have one or age uk they can usually reccommend places to purchase or hire such items from.

I 100% agree with the above, unless you know what you need from a wheelchair don't buy a secondhand one (either tho I have several in the garden shed to sell). The wrong chair is not only hard to live with (pushing, lifting etc) but could give you back and pressure problems.

If you know what you're doing a second hand chair can be a bargain, I've just got a £3500 chair for £1500, but I've a good friend who sells chairs, he saw this chair and knew it was perfect for me.

swanny1

Look at ebay some great bargains to be had but be careful and make sure you see and test drive the item.