Wheelchair service made right decision in prescribing a class 2 powered wheelchair

What happened

Miss L is an amputee and had used a wheelchair for many years. For the last seven years she had used a class 3 wheelchair which is able to travel on the road at up to eight miles per hour. The wheelchair was fitted with indicators and headlights as standard. In 2013 Miss L was re–assessed as her old wheelchair was becoming worn. The Clinical Commissioning Group's wheelchair service prescribed a class 2 wheelchair, which could only be used on the pavement and had a maximum speed of four miles per hour. As the wheelchair could not be used on the road it did not come fitted with indicators or headlights.

Miss L complained that her wheelchair was being downgraded and said that she needed a class 3 wheelchair because it had a longer range before needing to be recharged. The wheelchair service offered Miss L a voucher for the cost of the class 2 wheelchair which she could put towards the purchase of a higher specification wheelchair.

What we found

We did not uphold this complaint. The wheelchair service properly assessed Miss L's needs, and prescribed a class 2 wheelchair which met those needs. We noted that the range of the class 2 wheelchair exceeded the distance Miss L told us she regularly travelled. The wheelchair service made a reasonable offer of giving Miss L a voucher for the cost of the wheelchair it had prescribed.