At the BHTA Joint Section Meeting 2026, held on 18 June 2026 at the British Motor Museum in Warwickshire, delegates heard from Ceara Chamberlin, Policy and Public Affairs Manager at Newlife, and Daniel Laing, Associate Director of Tendo.

Their session explored the findings of the Children’s Commissioner’s report, ‘Children Waiting to Leave Hospital’, alongside the ongoing work of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Access to Disability Equipment.

The session examined the challenges disabled children and their families face when accessing essential equipment and support, and highlighted the growing role of collaboration between charities, industry, and Parliament in improving outcomes.

Delayed discharge and the role of equipment

Introducing Newlife’s work, Ceara explained that the charity provides life-changing specialist disability equipment to thousands of disabled children across the UK through grants and emergency loans, helping them access school, participate in their communities, and experience the joys of childhood.

She then examined the report, which found that thousands of children who are medically fit to leave hospital remain there because appropriate support is unavailable. More than 260,000 children spend three weeks or more in hospital, almost 35,000 remain for longer than three months, and more than 11,000 spend over a year in hospital, often missing out on family life, education, and play.

The report identifies several causes of delayed discharge, including fragmented services, shortages of care placements, inconsistent community support, and delays to housing adaptations and specialist equipment.

The report recommends stronger joint commissioning across health services, local authorities, and schools, improved data on discharge delays, greater support for children’s homecare services, better access to housing adaptations, and increased investment through the Disabled Facilities Grant.

Wider implications for the sector

Building on the report’s findings, Ceara said equipment should be considered an integral part of discharge planning rather than an afterthought. As more care is delivered closer to home, timely access to equipment is increasingly enabling both safe discharge and childhood, reinforcing the need for stronger integration between health, social care, and education.

Ceara also highlighted the importance of better data to demonstrate both the scale of delayed discharge and the preventative value of equipment. Improved evidence, she suggested, would strengthen the case for investment by showing how timely provision can prevent hospital admissions as well as support earlier discharge. She concluded by recognising the important role charities continue to play in filling gaps in statutory provision, while noting that families should not have to rely on charitable support to access essential equipment.

Building momentum through Parliament

The second half of the session focused on the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Access to Disability Equipment, established in 2025 to improve parliamentary understanding of the barriers preventing timely access to specialist equipment.

Daniel explained how the APPG brings together parliamentarians, the BHTA, Newlife, Whizz Kidz, and other organisations to improve understanding of community equipment and inform future policy. Since its launch, the group has grown to more than 40 parliamentarians, launched a national inquiry, and published recommendations on improving access to disability equipment.

He also described how the APPG’s work is helping to raise the profile of community equipment within Parliament, with debates, parliamentary questions, and proposed legislative amendments increasingly reflecting the issues identified through the APPG’s evidence gathering.

The session concluded by reinforcing the importance of continued collaboration between charities, industry, healthcare professionals, and policymakers. As discussions around children’s services, integrated care, and community equipment continue to develop, improving access to specialist equipment remains a key part of enabling disabled children to leave hospital sooner, participate more fully in everyday life, and receive the support they need closer to home.

The collapse of NRS Healthcare in August 2025 sent shockwaves through the healthcare sector, disrupting essential provision for thousands of people who rely on vital aids to live safely and independently.  

Given the scale of the impact, the UK Government has now issued a response to a key parliamentary question examining both the collapse of NRS Healthcare and its impact on vital healthcare equipment services. 

However, while the response acknowledges the importance of community equipment and outlines short-term actions taken during the liquidation, it offers no long-term assurances to prevent a similar collapse from happening again.

A key reason there was not a system-wide failure was due to the hard work by BHTA members and others to step in and take on contracts and ensure continuity of services. This has so far gone unacknowledged by government.

Below is the full written question and government response for BHTA members’ reference: 

NRS Healthcare: Insolvency 
Asked by Lord Allan on 17 November 2025 
“To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the insolvency of NRS Healthcare on the provision of community equipment services.” 

Answer from Baroness Merron, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (4 December 2025) 

“Community equipment, such as wheelchairs, hoists, and other specialist medical equipment, forms an important part of many people’s health and care support package. Such equipment can be critical in supporting better care outcomes, can enable people to remain in or return to their homes as the primary setting for care, and can avoid unnecessary stays in hospital or care homes. 

“Local authorities have statutory duties under the Care Act 2014 and the Children and Families Act 2014 to arrange for the provision of disability aids and community equipment to meet the assessed needs of individuals in their area. While some local authorities provide these services themselves, many have contracts with external suppliers, such as NRS Healthcare. The Department does not have a statutory role in the provision of community equipment. 

“However, as part of NRS Healthcare’s liquidation process, the Government made available short-term funding to the Official Receiver to cover the essential operating costs of NRS Healthcare and its affiliated companies. This funding ensured that trading was able to continue for a limited time, minimising disruption by providing crucial time for local authorities to put alternative supply in place. The Department continues to monitor the situation in affected local authorities through Partners in Care and Health, a Department funded programme run in partnership with the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services.” 

BHTA’s call for urgent, coordinated action 

To protect service users and support the businesses that deliver this essential work, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Access to Disability Equipment’s recent report points to a series of important recommendations to the UK Government to improve community equipment services as a whole:

• Develop a National Strategy for Community Equipment – led by a dedicated Minister, ensuring national consistency, accountability, and funding reform.
• Reform funding and commissioning to focus on quality, not just cost, and support sustainable innovation.
• Reduce waiting times and delays through workforce investment and better coordination between the NHS and local authorities.
• Improve communication and transparency with families and carers through a national framework and central data monitoring.
• Create a National Advisory Board to give equipment users and carers a real voice in service design and delivery.
• Strengthen reuse and recycling systems so equipment no longer sits unused while others go without.

BHTA stands ready to work with the government, local authorities, the NHS and industry partners to help shape a more resilient and sustainable future for these essential sectors. The people who rely on this equipment — and the professionals who deliver it — deserve a system that is robust, responsive, and protected from preventable disruption. 

A new report, published today by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Access to Disability Equipment, reveals a national crisis in community equipment services.

The BHTA and Newlife, supported by Tendo, helped parliamentarians launch the APPG for Disability Equipment Access. The BHTA continues to support the APPG for Access to Disability Equipment.

The new report details findings from the APPG’s inquiry into community care equipment and barriers to access.

Community equipment provides children, adults, and elderly people with disabilities or temporary care needs with often vital equipment, such as harnesses, grabrails, and hoists. However, the report has found that almost three-quarters of people feel that systems providing community equipment is not meeting their needs.

According to the report, the crisis is leaving thousands of vulnerable people without the essential medical equipment they need to live safely and independently. The summer-long inquiry found the issue is systemic. The sector is unable to innovate and is held back by a creaking system, carers are unable to dedicate sufficient time towards patients, and patients themselves reporting the system simply does not work for them.

The report has found evidence of users waiting months and sometimes years for critical care assessments and access to critical medical equipment.

Entitled ‘Barriers to Accessing Lifesaving Disability Equipment’, the report found that:

• Over half of equipment users do not have the medical equipment they need for their long-term needs.
• 63 percent of carers and 55 percent of users say services are getting worse.
• 74 percent of equipment providers said they were aware of patients experiencing delayed hospital discharges.
• 44 percent of equipment providers say community equipment provision is “not at all consistent and equitable.”
• A third of equipment users reported that they are still waiting to receive approved equipment.
• Many families reported having to purchase their own equipment, with further widespread reports of users being let down by the current system.

Commenting on the report findings, David Stockdale, Chief Executive of the BHTA, said: “This report exposes the long-term, systemic challenges that those of us in the sector have been raising for years.

“The entire sector is committed to ensuring people have access to safe, high-quality equipment when they need it, but the lack of national oversight, inconsistent local commissioning, and insecure funding are undermining that goal.

“We urgently need a coordinated national approach that provides clear accountability, consistency across local areas, and robust, long-term investment. This report should serve as a catalyst for reform, ensuring the essential services that so many rely on are properly supported, resourced, and fit for the future.”

The APPG inquiry that fed into the report ran between July and September 2025. It has uncovered widespread evidence of systemic and in many cases unsafe delays.

The report found the crisis is in part caused by regional inequalities and the lack of national accountability, direction, and leadership. It concludes that long-term systemic fragmentation, underinvestment, and absence of political leadership are leaving vulnerable people and their families without the basic tools they need for dignity and independence.

To tackle the crisis, MPs on the APPG are calling on the UK Government to work with patients, carers, and industry to launch a dedicated strategy for community care equipment, overseen by a named Minister with clear responsibility for its delivery.

Launching the report in Parliament today, Daniel Francis MP, Chair of the APPG, said: “Across hundreds of testimonies, one message came through loud and clear: the system designed to support disabled children and adults is failing them. It is failing to deliver equipment on time, failing to provide the right support, and failing to listen to the very people it exists to serve.

“Under the current system we’re seeing children missing school, adults being forced out of work and carers injuring themselves. It’s failing patients, carers, and the sector alike, and it’s high time for the Government to get a grip.

“Access to community equipment is not privilege, it’s a daily necessity. We need a National Strategy for Community Equipment and clear leadership and accountability in its delivery. Ensuring everyone is given the right support at the right time is simply a matter of political will and commitment.”

The inquiry heard from 626 survey respondents, including equipment users, parents, carers, professionals, and suppliers. Many described a system that “barely scrapes the barrel of what people actually need to live their everyday lives”.

One equipment user told the APPG: “The delay has disabled me more and had a really negative impact on my mental health.”

Another parent said: “My child is being stunted by unsuitable equipment, missing vital years of development.”

Key report recommendations to government include reform funding and commissioning to focus on quality, not just cost, and support sustainable innovation, alongside reduce waiting times and delays through workforce investment and better coordination between the NHS and local authorities.

In addition, the report suggests that the government improves communication and transparency with families and carers through a national framework and central data monitoring; strengthens reuse and recycling systems so equipment no longer sits unused while others go without; and creates a National Advisory Board to give equipment users and carers a real voice in service design and delivery.

Click here to read the full report.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Access to Disability Equipment has launched its first inquiry to explore the barriers preventing people with disabilities from accessing the medical equipment they need.

The inquiry aims to support policy discussions and recommendations that improve access to essential community equipment, reduce inequalities, and promote best practice and innovation in commissioning, funding, and service delivery.

It will focus on four key areas:

1. Meeting needs and patient experience: Exploring how effectively current community equipment services support the practical and everyday needs of disabled children and adults, including the impact on families and carers.
2. Equity and access: Investigating regional and systemic variations in access to equipment and examining issues of fairness, consistency, and the influence of postcode based differences.
3. Systemic barriers and delays: Identifying key challenges such as staffing, training, and process inefficiencies and how these hinder timely access to appropriate equipment.
4. Commissioning, integration, and innovation: Evaluating current funding levels and commissioning models, the integration of equipment services with health, social care, and education, and opportunities for improvement.

As part of the inquiry, the APPG has launched a call for evidence, open until 22 August. The APPG is inviting professionals including medical equipment suppliers and healthcare workers as well as individuals with disabilities, their families, and carers to participate. To contribute, complete this short survey accessible via this link.

Commenting, Daniel Francis MP, Chair of the APPG for Access to Disability Equipment said: “For someone with a disability, access to medical equipment is a lifeline. It enables independent living and brings dignity, opportunity, and freedom. So it is deeply upsetting that so many people in the UK can’t get the equipment they need.

“Everyone should have access to the right equipment at the right time.

“But for this to happen, we must truly understand the root causes of these prevailing barriers to access impacting so many families. This means hearing directly from those impacted, including the carers, professionals, and equipment suppliers all working to make the provision of essential medical equipment more efficient, effective, faster and fairer for all those who depend on it.”

The inquiry questions are seeking answers to the following seven broad themes:

• How well does current community equipment provision meet the needs of patients and families?
• How equitable and consistent is access to community equipment across regions and systems?
• What barriers and challenges limit timely and appropriate access to equipment?
• What are the consequences of delays or gaps in provision, particularly for children and young people?
• How effective and sustainable are current funding, commissioning, and procurement models?
• How well is equipment provision integrated with wider health, social care, and education services?
• What opportunities exist to improve services through better collaboration, design, and user involvement?

The BHTA and Newlife, supported by Tendo, helped parliamentarians launch the APPG for Disability Equipment Access on 14 May 2025. Find out more about the inaugural APPG meeting and BHTA’s involvement in this post.