Cannock charity calls on government to combat key issues facing disabled children
A Cannock-based charity is calling on the Government to act now to combat key issues facing disabled and terminally ill children and their families.
The call comes as a new report reveals waiting times for assessments can take over three years in some areas of the country, due to a devastating combination of increased need, staff shortages, insufficient budgets and a lack of government guidance.
Newlife The Charity for Disabled Children has worked closely with hundreds of families and professionals to understand their experiences with local services, particularly regarding specialist equipment.
The charity also completed extensive Freedom of Information research with local authorities across the UK to discover how waiting times and equipment budgets are responding to increasing demands from families.
Their findings have now been released in a damning report – Fight For Our Future – which paint a bleak picture of families and frontline professionals fighting for disabled children’s basic needs to be met, and feeling that the Government are not making their needs a priority.
The report identifies four key barriers facing disabled children and their families: increasing waiting times for assessments, insufficient equipment budgets, lack of leadership at government level and a shortage of suitable professionals.
The report also reveals that just two in five families feel they have all the specialist equipment they need, such as buggies, wheelchairs, hoists and beds, while 75 per cent of professionals are concerned by unmet equipment needs in their area, and over the last year 60 per cent of local services have seen assessment waiting lists grow, yet nearly half have cut their equipment spend.
In the West Midlands nearly half (44 per cent) of local services have cut their equipment budgets, while some children are waiting up to 18 months for an assessment.
Stephen Morgan, Newlife’s director of charitable services, said: “This report and its findings are clear; disabled children and their families do not feel they are a priority and as such they have to fight for every bit of support they can get.
“The current system is failing disabled children and their families with unacceptable waiting times for vital assessments and the equipment that is so desperately needed.
"It's time for change; and we call on all party leaders and decision makers to establish a dedicated Minister for Disabled Children, provide clear guidance on equipment provision and allocate sufficient funding to meet the needs of every disabled child.
“Overwhelming pressure is now being placed on charities which are increasingly needed to plug the gap, at a time when many are struggling to raise funding due to the cost-of-living crisis. Newlife spent £2.5 million on equipment grants for disabled children last year. It also saw applications for grants of specialist equipment nearly double in 2023, while the number of calls to the charity’s free nurse helpline from families seeking support increased by 73 per cent.”
Newlife is now calling for the Government to commit to establishing a dedicated Minister for Disabled Children, who will ACT: Accelerate equipment provision; Cut assessment waits; and Tackle staff shortages.
Recommendations to policy makers also includes issuing clear guidance defining the responsibilities of local services regarding equipment provision, expanding paediatric apprenticeship programme and improving staff retention, working with external organisations, such as charities and manufacturers to improve equipment training, implementing maximum wait times for children’s Occupational Therapy assessments and creating a ringfenced budget for specialist children’s equipment that is sufficient to meet all needs.
