Wheelchair provision guidelines

Wheelchair Planning

• How do I get a wheelchair, and when should I start?

  ✓Supports this

  “A wheelchair is meant to be provided through a service, with trained staff assessing and selecting it with the person, not chosen alone.”

  Its first and strongest recommendation is that wheelchairs must be provided through a process of individual assessment and selection, and that the assessment is done jointly by the person and trained personnel rather than by either alone. It applies to all countries and all types of wheelchair.

• What should good seating and positioning provide?

  !Qualifies this

  “Pain, sliding, pressure marks and losing head or trunk position are worth raising, because adjusting the seating can often help.”

  Lists pain, weakness or stiffness, falls, and new or persistent pressure injuries as signs that should trigger a review, and adjusting the cushion and postural supports as a standard way of resolving what a review finds. It does not say how often adjustment works, so the answer says it can often help rather than giving a success rate.

• What should good seating and positioning provide?

  !Qualifies this

  “Seating is reviewed and re-set over time rather than set up once.”

  Recommends ongoing follow up for as long as someone needs a wheelchair, but grades that recommendation conditional on very low certainty evidence and says no optimal interval has been established for anyone. Its working suggestion is at least every six months where a condition is changing quickly.

• What types of wheelchair are there, and what suits different needs?

  ✓Supports this

  “The way a powered chair is driven can be changed later if hand function changes, so the chair keeps working for the person.”

  Treats adjusting the drive controls as normal follow-up work rather than a rebuild, and lists a change in someone's ability to propel their wheelchair as one of the signs that should trigger that follow-up.