P-05-914 Equal Access to Health Care for the Disabled, Correspondence – Petitioner to Committee, 01.12.20

To Whom It May Concern

I really appreciate the thoroughness of the review of accessibility in GP surgeries in Wales that has been undertaken and have found it very pleasing to see how most respondents have seen the importance of this issue for disabled people, though the respondent who referred to it being a "frustration" for me is rather under estimating the impact of going unexamined when one has cancer, as I did.

I found it very telling that most Health Boards don't have hoists at all and I would disagree that each disabled person needs a different kind of hoist. They would need a different sized sling perhaps but it's not as difficult as suggested to provide hoisting for disabled people.

The suggestion that these pieces of equipment are held within each cluster possibly x2 (North and South, or East and West) should mean that each disabled person could access what ever they need when required, although some may not have access to transport that would allow for this. 

Amongst medic-friends and myself, discussing the issue, it was suggested that a loaning service from a central bank be available for these pieces of equipment, which seems like a good option, as long as it was as responsive as it would need to be. 

Obviously my petition only covers one area of accessibility but I feel it is the most crucial, second only to access to the GP surgery buildings and therefore should be seen as a major priority for all clusters to address. 

The figures, though sadly incomplete (which tells a story in itself), do show that the provision of hoists and adjustable treatment beds, whether they are wide or not, is woefully inadequate and I hope that something will be decided within clusters to bridge this potentially fatal gap. 

Yours Sincerely,