When Rosy Bremer, 52, from Portsmouth, applied for a wheelchair from the NHS she did not expect it to take almost a year to arrive. She has spent hundreds since then hiring a private vehicle while she waits, despite having motor neurone disease (MND).
Bremer is one of many who have had issues with the private wheelchair firm AJM Healthcare. The health service ombudsman told AJM to improve its complaints system amid concerns about delays. Some disabled people have reported waiting up to two years for a chair.
She had been having trouble with mobility before her diagnosis of MND. “I applied for my first wheelchair around the summer last year. I had been having problems with mobility but was not aware I could get a wheelchair from the NHS,” she says.
Bremer hired a private wheelchair while she waited, which initially cost £100 a week, although the costs later dropped to £30 a week as she had it for longer. “I hired it as a short-term measure but months later I still have it.”
To get a wheelchair, Bremer had to make two visits to her GP to be measured. Then she had one home visit from a physiotherapist organised through AJM. It is the physio’s job to order the wheelchair but her first appointment was cancelled due to staff sickness. “The replacement appointment then wasn’t booked on the system, although I had received an appointment letter,” she says.
Eventually, a physiotherapist took measurements. They also discussed what kind of wheelchair was needed based on her clinical needs. The wheelchair was prescribed in January, months after she initially enquired. “At that time I was not diagnosed with MND but had a neuromuscular condition,” Bremer says.
In March 2024, Bremer received her motor neurone disease diagnosis, which she says should mean her referral is “classed as urgent”.
She says: “I have contacted AJM Healthcare ... [they] cannot give me anything resembling a date on which I can expect my wheelchair.
“I cannot get anything out of them, other than the fact there is a backlog to deal with. I don’t know what that means … but that is all I know.”
The wheelchair Bremer hired has no posture support. She says that as her “head, neck and back muscles deteriorate it is increasingly uncomfortable”. She also has rheumatoid arthritis and finds the arm support and joystick unsuitable. “It’s annoying and … as my condition progresses the lack of correct back head and neck support means when I do go out in my wheelchair I am very uncomfortable.”
The wheelchair is also expensive and Bremer is no longer working due to being medically retired. She has, as a result, incurred expense trying to fund a wheelchair on an interim basis from a private provider with the help of family.
“MND is a complex disease, which means I have a lot of different bodies to deal with ... Navigating that adds to the incredible burden of having a disability,” she said.
