About the service

Dorset Wheelchair Service operates from two centres, one in the east of the county at St Leonards Hospital, and one in the west of the county in Dorchester.  This enables us to cover the whole of Dorset.

Clients are assessed for their individual wheeled mobility in accordance with our NHS eligibility criteria. The healthcare professional is usually within the service itself or may by a healthcare professional from another organisation and accredited by the service. 

The service has a range of staff including occupational therapists, physiotherapists, rehabilitation engineers, therapy and rehab engineering assistants, repair technicians and administration staff.

We operate a clinical duty service every day and clinical referrals are triaged within two days. This ensures a timely approach to providing standard wheelchairs and cushions and ensures that referrals for non-standard equipment are on the correct pathway to help prevent delays in provision. The duty therapist is also available to provide advice and urgent assistance wherever possible. 

Clinics are run in a variety of venues, usually at one of the service centres, so that accurate physical assessment can take place. We also work closely with other health professionals to ensure our clients benefit from multi-disciplinary care.

Where appropriate, an individual may be supplied with a wheelchair/buggy from within our NHS approved range. Wheelchairs can be loaned entirely through the NHS with no additional funding from the individual.  However, with additional funding, elements of the wheelchair can be personalised, or even purchased entirely, through use of the personal wheelchair budget.

Wheelchairs are adapted if necessary to meet an individual’s specific needs and appropriate postural seating is prescribed and provided. This particularly applies to children, whose equipment must allow for growth and any individual postural needs. Unfortunately, we are not able to provide wheelchairs solely for use at work or solely for use in education.

Opening hours are 8.30am-4pm. Our St Leonards site has a Changing Places toilet with changing facilities.