Wheelchair services

The Wheelchair and Repair Service in Surrey is provided by Ross Care.

The service was previously provided by Millbrook Healthcare. In 2023, Millbrook Healthcare group took the decision to organise all of their wheelchair services into one specialised division under Ross Care.

The Surrey wheelchair service offers a fully integrated wheelchair and postural management service to eligible residents of Surrey on behalf of the NHS. The team at Ross Care assess and prescribe wheelchairs, postural support and pressure cushions to meet your clinical and mobility needs. Their repair team will repair and maintain equipment provided to you. Ross Care work closely with community teams to ensure you receive a holistic assessment and are aware of all the options available to you.

Surrey wheelchair service

Ross Care has over 60 years’ experience in delivering high quality wheelchairs services and is the leading specialist provider and approved repairer in the UK. Unrivalled heritage, with a leading reputation for clinical quality and governance, Ross Care’s differentiated end-to-end service proposition covers the entire service user pathway. This includes catering to the needs of highly complex service users through our market leading manufacturer Consolor.

Securing its first outsourced contract in the 1970s, Ross Care has grown to operate 40 long term contracts across England and Wales, covering 45% of the population and providing services to nearly 400,000 wheelchair service users. Ross Care employs nearly 500 team members operating out of 25 service centres, with the head office located in Wallasey.

In July 2022, the Surrey wheelchair service was expanded to include Surrey clients who were under the care of the wheelchair services team at Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton (part of St George’s University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust). This also included clients of the Roehampton Special Seating service.

Surrey Heartlands engaged with clients of the service to ensure that the changes were communicated to them, whilst also giving them an opportunity to give feedback.

During the development of the original service in July 2020, Surrey Heartlands held an engagement event in Dorking. Around 100 people attended including service users, parents and carers, as well as representatives from a range of organisations including Surrey Coalition, Surrey County Council and Action for Carers.

The aim was to seek the views of service users, carers, their families, other local groups and providers, on their experiences of the current wheelchair services and to get their feedback on opportunities for improvements so we could use this feedback to shape the new service.

Key themes from the feedback

Through the event and other feedback we heard the following key themes. Where possible, we incorporated this feedback into the design of the new service.

• Support for a co-ordinated wheelchair repair and maintenance service to ensure that a joined-up and timely service is provided
• A desire to have modern IT/systems to facilitate better communication with clients
• Good customer service and access to advice during 8.30am and 5pm
• Out of hours emergency repair service operating 7 days per week and until 11pm
• Fully equipped clinical facilities to enable our clinical colleagues to carry out full posture and mobility assessment
• Home visits for people who require them

These key themes, alongside other feedback, helped to design a wheelchair service in Surrey that met the needs of our residents.  The new integrated service was provided by Millbrook Healthcare.  From July 2023, this service is now provided by Ross Care.