Those of us living life after limb loss will often depend on a range of services provided by the NHS, or one of the private providers of prosthetic services in the UK. From my personal perspective and having experienced a severe trauma loss of my right leg in 1979, I have been exclusively a ‘patient’ of the NHS. I therefore take a considerable interest in the prosthetic services provided by the NHS and in my privileged position as Chair of the LA’s Trustee Board, I am able to engage with some of the people who are responsible for the delivery of these vital services.
In 2023 I took over from our CEO Debbie Bent’s place on the NHS England Rehabilitation, Disability and Spinal Cord Injury Clinical Reference Group. This is where a lot of important decisions are made in terms of what prosthetic services are available and how they are delivered via the 35 centres across the UK. For example, we are currently consulting and working on a proposed new service specification for these services. And, of course, the LA are committed to advocating for the best prosthetic services to be easily accessible for all people living with limb loss.
However, the theory of such an idealistic position doesn’t always take account of the practical and financial realities of the NHS in 2024. And here is a crucially important idea, can the LA be certain that the voices of people living with limb loss in the UK are always heard by those who are in charge of things?
I have at various times had the opportunity to work with media outlets, most frequently the BBC. They have interviewed me about a range of issues that are related to health matters, usually directly linked to our lives as amputees. In this vein, I was recently contacted for a response to a news feature about Craig Mackinlay, the former Conservative MP for South Thanet in Kent, who in September 2023 became a quadruple amputee due to sepsis. Craig, who is now sitting the House of Lords as Lord Mackinlay of Richborough, had commented that he wasn’t overly impressed with his initial contact with the NHS services in his local area. I provided a balancing opinion in terms of the overall situation in this country, highlighting where the NHS is delivering life-changing services for patients, particularly in the early stages of the rehabilitation pathway.
Shortly afterwards, I reached out to Lord Mackinlay and we were able to discuss these issues of mutual interest in much greater detail. He was very keen to start a debate at the centre of government and explore the possibilities for achieving quicker and more effective rehabilitation outcomes for amputee patients. And you can probably imagine that was music to my ears! But crucially, how can this undertaken?
Lord Mackinlay explained that he was planning to meet with Wes Streeting, the new government’s Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. And let’s be aware that this is where the NHS is centred in terms of finance and operational function. If the amputee community wants the best prosthetic and associated rehabilitation services, delivered at no cost to the patients, then this is where the most important decisions are taken. So the opportunity to be involved at this meeting was about as important as it gets!
I’ve been associated with the LA for about forty years and I have never had such an opportunity. But on 5 November, this is what happened! Accompanied by my colleague Tracy Ralph, Lord Mackinlay invited us to attend a meeting at the House of Lords to talk directly to Wes Streeting. We had 60 minutes, shared with a small number of other invited guests, to talk about the LA’s services and in particular, the vital work of our Volunteer Visitor support service. The Secretary of State explained that due to recent personal experience, he certainly understood the value of peer-to-peer support. And this is a concept that is increasingly gaining credence and momentum within the NHS.
But this is just the beginning, and there is a lot more work to do. The LA is the only national charity supporting the civilian limb loss community in the UK, and it’s very important that our voices are heard at the heart of government. I hope to continue my positive working relationship with Lord Mackinlay and to further advocate for the best NHS services that will directly improve the lives of people in the UK living with limb loss.
