Newlife The Charity for Disabled Children has welcomed a new report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Access to Disability Equipment, which reveals a national crisis in the system providing essential disability and community care equipment. Newlife joins the APPG in calling on the Government to act urgently on the recommendations and to make children with disabilities a priority at the highest level.
The APPG’s report Barriers to Accessing Lifesaving Disability, reveals that 71% of users feel the current system is failing to meet their needs. Families are waiting months and even years for critical assessments and equipment such as beds, hoists and specialist seating, leaving thousands of children with disabilities without the essential medical equipment they need to live safely, independently and to thrive.
As one of the leading national charities providing specialist equipment to children, Newlife strongly endorses the report’s findings and policy recommendations, which reflects what they see daily through their frontline and campaigning work supporting families across the UK.
Research from Newlife’s 2024 report, Fight for Our Future revealed that it has never been more difficult for children with disabilities to access the support they need, particularly for specialist equipment.
Ceara Chamberlin, Public Affairs and Campaigns Manager, said: “This report lays bare what families have been telling us for years, that the system for providing essential disability equipment is broken. We know that children with disabilities and their families are being continually let down, caught in the middle of a dysfunctional system, with a lack of leadership and guidance, long assessment waiting times and shortage of paediatric workforce.
“Charities like Newlife are being forced to plug the gaps where statutory services fall short which is not sustainable.
“Every child deserves timely access to the equipment they need to thrive. From our own research, we know that only two in five families feel they have the equipment their children need. That’s simply not good enough and this report must be a turning point for national action.”
Newlife believes that children with disabilities deserve services which are proactive and responsive to their needs to ensure they are able to live a life free from pain and with the opportunities to achieve their full potential.
