Wheelchairs

[tobee]

My mum has asked me to look into wheelchairs for her. She's 86 and has lots of arthritis issues that makes walking hard. She has my df but he has early stage dementia and also a bad back/fracture (😱) They both have lots of hospital appointments and so an electric one might be useful here. However, a manual one would be ok if I or one of friends could push it.

She likes to go to visit NT garden type places as well. So I'm imagining an easily foldable one to go in car boot?

I've looked at brand new and second hand (eBay) and see there are many types and vastly differing prices. Has anyone any experience of buying? What should I look for? Is second hand likely to be ok?

Thanks!

Hospitals have very hard to steer/push ones to use at the hospital and my aunt says you can borrow wheelchairs at NT type places but you need to book a week in advance?

Electric ones, even folding ones are heavy and bulky. I bought a non-electric one for a relative from a local mobility shop. She sat in them all and comfort levels did vary. We chose solid tyres so no punctures, and fixed footrests, which reduce faff and chance of them being lost (more important if you are using a range of different carers) but increase bulk. Then just chose the absolute lightest weight available. This, of course makes it the most expensive too but is why ours is easier to lift and push than the ones in hospitals. It's surprising how easily it fits in the back of some very small cars, and not at all easily in the back of some big cars, but its always fitted!

NHS information about mobility aids

have you applied for a blue badge?
do you get the discount on council tax for your father?

There are, ime, at least 2 manual types! Transfer wheelchairs, which have the advantage of being very light, and are for someone else to push only. It’s too light to go up or down kerbs. So, the person has to be able to get out and walk up or down kerbs themselves.

Then there’s self propelled, where the person can use the big rear wheels to move themselves - these are heavier, but are strong enough to go up or down kerbs. (However, having had to use one myself for about 6 weeks, it takes some strength in the arms and manoeuvring one takes practice.)

Its best to go to a mobility shop and try them out, with the person!

Not quite, the two main types are really the heavier-duty, outdoor, types which can have either large wheels for self-propelling(or being pushed by an assistant) or small wheels for being pushed by an assistant only. We have the latter and it is just as robust as one with big wheels. Often one model comes with a choice of wheels. Transfer chairs, the type of thing they sell in catalogues aimed at the elderly, are much more lightweight, smaller and just for occasional short distances, mostly indoors.

From my experience a transit wheelchair that was light as possible as you will be hefting it in and out of a car boot at least twice on a trip and often many more.

Inflated tyres are more comfortable than the solid for the user and memory foam cushions.

It must fold up small enough to get in your car boot. It must have locking brakes so the user can get in and out safely. A bag on the back is handy.

It was VAT free to buy.

Definitely check the weight as you'll be hauling it in and out of the car. also get one with a little foot piece that you can step on to help get the front up a small step/bump, as I bought one without first and it was really hard to manoeuvre on less than perfect smooth surfaces.

NB ditto the blue badge - I got one for each of my parents and it made life a lot easier taking them around.

We recently bought one for similar reasons, it's the Excel G-Logic. It's badged as lightweight but is still fairly heavy! Parent is happy in it, with the memory foam cushion.

The Red Cross have places you can rent cheaply from (or did where grandparents lived 5 years ago) think it was £5 a week then, rent first to see what works. Nt places often have scooters to rent which give more independence

Could she manage a mobility scooter? You can get smaller ones and I believe you can do long term hire on them. The advantage of course being that you don't have to push!

Who is meant to push this wheelchair. I can’t stress how difficult it is to push one. A friend of ours even had trouble pushing his wife round a hotel. A small mobility scooter would be a much better bet if she could drive one. Places that say they are wheelchair accessible don’t tell you about gravel paths or steep slopes.

Have you considered a mobility scooter. We got one for my DM 82. It's one that comes apart and goes in the boot of my car. She isn't confident enough to go out on it on her own but I have taken it on holiday with us and out on day trips and she loves it and it doesn't hurt my back!

Electric is better for autonomy but heavier because of the weight of the battery. With the best will in the world, if you have to push, there will come a time when you unthinkingly stow her in a corner like a suitcase.

ideal might be a lightweight, have to be pushed one for quick transfers, and an electric scooter with big enough wheels for rough paths at NT places.

I can’t imagine the repetitive movements for a self propelled big wheeled scooter would do any good for joints, even if she doesn’t yet have arthritis in hands, wrists and shoulders.

When I was looking, there were lightweight ones with kerb mounting capabilities.

I bought a Karma wheelchair for a relative, it was quite expensive but was the lightest and comfiest l could find. Also folded well for the car boot.
It had detachable foot rests.
But, later on, when relative needed hospital transport for an appointment and was going in the large van/ambulance that is used, l found that this wheelchair was not
"Crash tested " so he could not travel in the transport in it. He was having severe mobility problems by then and it would have been so much easier if he could have just stayed in the same wheelchair all the time.

But the identical wheelchair with fixed footrests is Crash Tested and l ended up buying another wheelchair, exactly the same but with fixed footrests to make life easier.
If you read the information about wheelchairs you will see that some will say that they are Crash tested. When discussing this with assistants in a mobility shop later , one assistant knew about this but several others did not. It was not mentioned when l bought the first one.

After a great deal of toing and froing with the surgery (we're in Wales) my mum was measured and fitted for a wheelchair on the NHS. I was the one who did the lifting and pushing even when my dad was still alive as he had a hernia and a bad back. I am short, fat and a bit of a weakling but had no problem pushing around town, up and down kerbs or round the shops. We live on a steep hill and most of the places mum wanted to visit were at the bottom of said hill so we often had a taxi home or my husband and I would take it in turns to push.

Oh wow thanks everyone so much for this information! I've read through once but will read through in more detail again and talk it through with mum! Luckily she's very good about saying what she wants and not worried about being proud (like my dad would be!)

Also, yes, she has a blue badge. I hadn't thought about the council tax deduction @ivykaty44, thanks for that!

@tobee make sure you apply for a blue badge for your father, he should also be entitled due to part two of the blue badge form.

if you look on our council website you maybe able to download the council tax from for Severely mentally impaired, if you down load that and take it too his gp - get the date of diagnoses put on the form and the council tax reduction should be back dated to that date. You don't have to have attendance allowance to claim this - though you could also claim attendance allowance for your father. I bet your mother does much more for him than you both realise, so put in the forms worse case scenario and put them in.