CAMPAIGNERS have expressed anger after it was revealed patients in NHS hospitals in England are being charged £2 an hour for the use of wheelchairs by a private company with ties to Israel.
Israeli company Wheelshare have installed "Boris Bike-style hiring schemes" — a reference to a cycle hire scheme in London — in hospitals in Lambeth and Hillingdon.
The private healthcare business could be seeing £16 per patient, based on waiting times at King's College Hospital.
Patients who arrive at A&E who are unable to walk are directed to a hiring dock of wheelchairs that can be unlocked by a bank card. Users are then charged after the first four hours, which are free.
One doctor wrote online: "NHS hospitals are now charging patients £2/hr just to sit in a wheelchair in A&E. These are some of the sickest patients, who often have to wait hours to be seen. "The NHS is crumbling, and is being eaten away by constant privatisation. When will Wes Wtreeting act?".
Streeting, the Cabinet Secretary for Health, has previously been slated after he promised Labour will go “further” than Tony Blair in making use of the private sector in a bid to ease NHS pressures.
Keep Our NHS Public co-chairman Dr John Puntis told the Morning Star: “It is outrageous that such patients should be financially penalised because they have reduced mobility.
“The solution to the problem of wheelchairs is not to outsource it to a private company at the expense of patients, but for the NHS to up its game.”
Johnbosco Nwogbo, lead campaigner at We Own It said “Our NHS was founded to be a publicly owned, publicly delivered healthcare service, free at the point of use.
“Today patients are being asked to pay to use a wheelchair, an essential part of navigating a hospital if you’re not strong enough to walk. What will it be tomorrow?
“The Government has a simple choice before them in the budget and the NHS 10-year plan. Will they properly invest in our NHS and end privatisation, or will they allow more erosion of our health service through profit-taking and underfunding? They have an opportunity to be the government that truly rescues our NHS.”
Wheelshare defended the scheme, with a spokesperson stating: "“The scheme helps ensure that every patient who needs a wheelchair can find one when they arrive at hospital.
“Patients using a wheelchair who experience longer waits for treatment are able to have these costs refunded by contacting Wheelshare directly.”
However, a reporter for the London Centric claimed there was no such notice about a refund option at the docking stations.
