Impact of our wheelchair loan Economic resource savings Laura’s mother is a single parent and difference to her wellbeing, especially £1,586 has to work full-time to provide for the during Christmas and generally being household, which includes Laura’s able to see her family. Additional economic resource younger brother and baby sister. “For some service users, it’s savings = She is therefore seldom available to important for them to feel they can help Laura get out of the house or be mobile to get out and engage Approximately £165 to take her to her weekly hospital with the local community, do basic resource savings for local GP appointments. Their house is in things like do some shopping, and or clinic a cul-de-sac, 300 yards from the reduce their isolation, otherwise this (based on GP cost per hour = £146, and nearest road, and vehicle access is assuming 11.4 minute average visit time plus not as convenient as it could be. The has a knock on effect on their mental 12 minute average travel time = GP cost health and whole wellbeing,” said the £55 per visit. Or health visitor = £51 per visit; hospital provided Laura with crutches occupational therapist. PSSRU, 2014). but not a wheelchair. During the winter ice and snow, it was not safe to Laura says that without the Avoiding 2 x follow-up visits to use crutches and Laura and her mum wheelchair, life would have been: fracture clinic/physiotherapy = worried that she could fall and do “horrible…My mum would have had to further damage to her knee, requiring see me suffer even more...especially £870 resource savings for additional time in hospital. emotionally and socially.” Laura hospital service avoiding further The Red Cross wheelchair has been believes that without her wheelchair knee damage procedure critical to Laura’s recovery. It enables she would have made far less (NHS National Tariff prices for “minor” knee her to wheel herself to the kerb where progress in her recovery and would procedure and five days trim point) the local non-emergency transport have needed support during the week service provider picks her up for from a care worker. her appointments. Laura has had to Laura’s mother agrees it would have + £233 resource savings attend weekly follow-up appointments been hard for her personally to cope, for NHS ambulance service per at the fracture clinic and additional saying that: “not having the wheelchair incidence sessions for splint removals and would have been the straw that broke (based on £233 per incidence of ambulance MRI scans. From the second month the camel’s back. It would have tipped call out: see, treat and convey; PSSRU, of her recovery she has attended me, Laura or both of us over the edge 2014) appointments three times a week with – stress levels have been so high a physiotherapist at the hospital. She already that I have broken down at Avoiding 2 x follow-up visits to would not have been able to get to work a couple of times, so if I had had fracture clinic/physiotherapy = many of these appointments without to try and physically support Laura to the wheelchair. the car whenever we went out or she £218 resource savings for Laura also needed the wheelchair to couldn’t have gone out at all, it would NHS travel to her GP, as she is prescribed have been unbearable.” (based on £109 cost per outpatient incidence, weighted average of all patients; morphine for severe pain relief, which Laura posed an important final PSSRU, 2014) has to be monitored carefully. When question: “How does it make sense – she was first discharged, she also the NHS says you can’t bear weight Avoiding three weeks of home suffered digestive problems due to for three months, but we are going care worker = the morphine, resulting in acute pain to discharge you with crutches and and a visit to the out-of-hours service. not going to give you a wheelchair?… Approximately £100 Without the wheelchair she would and if you need a wheelchair you’ll resource savings to local have had to call for home visits. have to pay for it or hope you can authority The wheelchair has also been find a charity who will donate one to (Three weeks at 1.5 hours per week = £24 you? The Red Cross was the only per hour home care worker charged to important in reducing Laura’s social one where there wasn’t something social services; PSSRU, 2014) isolation. She has been able to go ridiculous you had to pay to hire – it shopping with her mum at weekends, was just a donation, what you could to the cinema and for a meal in town. afford – and being a student and out She has started to go to Bingo with of work, and my mum being a single a friend as: “it’s something that you parent, we couldn’t have afforded can do sitting down.” Although she anything else.” still feels quite isolated and frustrated that she cannot get out more, these expeditions have made a big 21