Leeds student seeks rethink over NHS wheelchair funding policy

Hull Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said it was "happy to speak" to Dylan Wainman about further support

A teenager with cerebral palsy has asked the NHS to rethink its funding policy towards his new wheelchair.

Dylan Wainman from Hull has been told the NHS will provide him with a carer and £5,000 towards the cost of an automatic chair.

However, Mr Wainman must fund the rest of the £13,000 cost of the chair himself.

Hull Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said it was "happy to speak" to Mr Wainman about support options.

The 19-year-old has been offered a place studying computer science at Leeds Beckett University and said the new chair would allow him to live independently without the help of a carer.

Mr Wainman said it was "ironic" the NHS was unwilling to pay for the wheelchair but was happy to fund a carer for his four years of study, which he said would cost at least £18,000 a year.

"I think it is absolutely ridiculous," he said.

"At the end of the day my legs don't work but my head is there and I want to live like everyone else," he added.

Patience Young, from Hull CCG, said it was possible money could be moved from other areas to pay the full cost of the chair.

"In this circumstance I think we should be talking with the university," she said.

"We should be talking with our social care colleagues about how we can potentially reduce the care package that is required by improving the wheelchair that this person has got."