Hypermobility syndrome victim sent home without wheelchair.

Nine year old Isaac was sent home from a hospital in Kent without receiving a wheelchair having been diagnosed with joint hyper mobility syndrome which leaves him unable to stand nor walk.

Instead he was forced to wait until the Red Cross was able to find him a suitable wheelchair albeit a rather old and worn one. Mum Natasha says red tape prevented Isaac, who was diagnosed with joint hyper mobility syndrome, from receiving a modern chair from the hospital when he left it on March 13, commenting “We just found it appalling that the hospital sent him home without a wheelchair.

“I asked the Wheelchair Service why he hadn’t been given one and they said it was because they hadn’t received a referral for one.

“They later said it was because they thought Isaac wouldn’t need one for as long as six months so therefore didn’t qualify for one.

“I felt like we were trapped in some sort of bureaucratic mess.

"We just found it appalling that the hospital sent him home without a wheelchair... I felt like we were trapped in some sort of bureaucratic mess..." - Natasha McIntosh
“But what it meant was that I had to pull the car right up to the house and carry in him in. Then he dragged himself around the floor and up to the sofa if he wanted to sit down.

“I would have to pick him up even though I suffer with a bad back.”

Eventually on the 16th the Wheelchair Service at the hospital rang her to apologise and to arrange for a modern chair to be delivered to him.

Joint hypertension mobility syndrome is often called being double-jointed and in Isaac’s case he can bend joints far more than other people. But it can create stiffness and pain in joints as well as swelling and makes standing and walking virtually impossible currently. Hopefully with the help of some physiotherapy Isaac will be walking soon and be able to say goodbye to his wheelchair! Good luck!