Disabled people in England ‘have to wait up to two years for wheelchairs’

Disabled people in England are experiencing long delays of up to two years for wheelchairs and vital repairs, which leaves them trapped at home or injured, according to a report by the Public Service Ombudsman published on November 11, 2026. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman found that poorly commissioned services are compromising the safety, dignity, and independence of individuals who rely on these devices. Many people have been unable to attend school, work, or engage in social activities due to months or years of waiting for equipment. Complaints about wheelchair services have risen significantly, moving from eight cases in 2020/21 to 110 cases in 2025/26. More than 80 percent of these complaints concern services delivered by independent providers rather than directly within the NHS, with the majority centered on people waiting far longer than the 18-week target.

The Ombudsman highlighted several personal cases demonstrating the impact of these delays. Six-year-old Elliot Cruz Gardiyanoglu, who has cerebral palsy, was left without a suitable wheelchair for seven months when he was three, preventing him from attending nursery and receiving specialist therapies alongside his twin brother. His parents had to use an adapted buggy while waiting, which caused him to fall and injure himself multiple times. In another case, 68-year-old Graham Woolner from Bishops Stortford, who has spinal muscular atrophy, waited over two years for a replacement chair that met his needs. Although he should have received the equipment by August 2023, he did not get it until September 2024, and that chair broke on its first day with battery issues that left him unable to go out independently without his son.

Integrated Care Boards are the NHS bodies responsible for commissioning and developing local wheelchair services, but the Ombudsman identified several barriers preventing them from doing this effectively. These barriers include unreliable information regarding local need, an uncompetitive wheelchair provider market, unclear escalation routes for underperforming providers, and poor information-sharing across ICBs. Additional issues involve funding arrangements and eligibility criteria that fail to support educational and employment outcomes, alongside a weak focus on utilizing complaints to improve services. Most complaints regarding independent providers have focused on AJM Healthcare. The Ombudsman noted that AJM's management team has since changed, accepted the findings, and worked constructively over the past two-and-a-half years to overhaul its complaints process and improve waiting list management.

To address these systemic issues, the Ombudsman has issued focused recommendations to the Government and NHS England. These include collecting reliable data on the number of wheelchair users, establishing stronger national oversight, and ensuring the Strategic Commissioning Development Programme equips ICBs to commission sustainable, person-centred services. NHS England is also expected to develop a consistent national approach to measuring and using wheelchair users' experiences.