A NEW purpose-built area to train and test electric wheelchair users is set to be provided at Airedale Hospital.

Health bosses are appealing for a sponsor to come forward to enable the initiative to get up and running.

For the past two decades, mobility staff at the hospital in Steeton have worked with Bradford Council's road safety team to help patients learn about the safe use of electric wheelchairs.

Using a route along the hospital corridors and around the grounds, the patients are shown how to negotiate narrow and winding paths and contend with traffic and parked cars.

But now the mobility team wants to transform a courtyard within the hospital into a specially-designed area, which would include mixed terrain and ramps at different levels.

Dawn Osborne, lead wheelchair therapist at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, said: "It's really useful working with the road safety officers, who give their time free of charge and help us make the tests independent and consistent.

"We do everything we can to support participants until they pass their test, when they receive a certificate.

"It isn't a legal requirement to offer these tests, but we think it's a vital partnership venture to help keep people in wheelchairs safe and also to help protect pedestrians."

Alan Stockport, rehabilitation engineer at the trust, said the provision supported people making the transition to powered wheelchairs.

"We do lots of coaching for people to help them feel comfortable when they first get their wheelchairs but it's still quite scary for them making that switch from manual to power-driven chairs," he added.

"It's so heart-warming to watch a child who has mobility problems whizzing around in their new wheelchair full of joy as they get a new sense of freedom and independence."

The team would like to hear from any business able to help provide equipment for the new area. E-mail michelle.west@anhst.nhs.uk for details.

Advice to wheelchair users to stay safe includes wear something bright, ensure the chair is in good condition and regularly serviced, always carry a mobile phone in case of an emergency, take extra care in car parks where manoeuvring vehicles can create an added danger and don't hang heavy bags on the wheelchair which could affect its balance.

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