Mother slams HSE over storage of 'nearly new' walking aids outside supply depot

The line of "nearly new" walking aids left outside a HSE storage facility in Ardcavan, Wexford. Picture: Deirdre Taaffe

The mother of a boy who waited six weeks for a wheelchair has called on the HSE to explain why apparently “nearly new” walking aids are being stored outside one of its health supplies depots.

Deirdre Taaffe, from Wexford, says the equipment, which she estimates included 20 adult and child wheelchairs, appeared to have been stored outdoors for "weeks".

She said she only discovered the equipment when she went to the depot in Ardcavan, just outside Wexford town on Tuesday afternoon, to return her son Charlie’s wheelchair.

The 9-year-old had suffered a sports injury to his right leg and had needed a wheelchair and then crutches.

“I had to beg the HSE for a wheelchair and then I had to beg for crutches,” she said.

“I went back to the depot with the wheelchair and the crutches but they would only take the wheelchair.

“However, they told me to bring it to the side of the building and leave it there.

“When I went round I could not believe my eyes.

“There were at least 20, and maybe as many as 30, wheelchairs, various walking frames and I noticed a few hoists for lifting people out of beds.

“Charlie really looked after that wheelchair, and we returned it in near pristine condition.

“I noticed the other wheelchairs were also in a similar condition.

“I am really angry that there are people who are in a worse position than my son and they have to constantly fight for wheelchairs and walking aids.

“To then see how the HSE treats this equipment and just leaves it out in the open is sickening.

"The HSE needs to explain what is going on here.”

She initially put a photo of what she saw on her Facebook account but after the Scoliosis Advocacy Network shared the photo, it has been seen more than about 12,000 times.

It has prompted a raft of comments from mothers who are struggling to get walking aids for their children.

One woman said that she too had brought a wheelchair back to the depot and she claimed that she had been told that staff had nowhere to store equipment.

A HSE spokesperson said: “All returned wheelchairs undergo a decontamination process and are serviced as required.

“When wheelchairs are deemed appropriate for re-use, they are added to available stock.

"The HSE has a storage facility at the Ardcavan in Wexford, where items collected are stored, either for forwarding on for further attention or awaiting collection for recycling or disposal.”