A veteran disabled rights campaigner says she has been left in severe pain and declining health because she can't get her broken wheelchair replaced.

Kathy Bryan, 72, who has been honoured for her 40 years of volunteering with an MBE from the Queen, has been left with a blood clot on her leg after an accident in an old wheelchair - which she is still using.

Mrs Bryan said she began having issues trying to get her wheelchairs fixed and replaced more than two years ago, shortly before her husband died.

She said the hassle of trying to get new models engineered to fit her needs has left her in pain.

AJM Healthcare has promised to investigate her case after she accused the provider of failing her over a period of years.

At her St John's Wood home, Mrs Bryan demonstrated how her only electric wheelchair - which is so old its cushion is unevenly worn and its back can no longer tip, is causing her to sit at an uncomfortable angle.

"It just makes me so angry because it has affected my health," she said.
"I’ve always been independent and now I’ve had to have a catheter in."

She often slips down in the chair because it has lost the back-tilting function in recent months. She says she has had to ask strangers in the street to help her sit up.

The control stick is also loose, and it recently slipped out of her grasp, causing her to crash into her bed. The accident left a lump on her leg that has formed a blood clot being monitored by doctors for sepsis.

Mrs Bryan was born with cerebral palsy. She also has bone-weakening osteoporosis and lymphedema, which causes fluid retention, swelling her legs.

Kathy has been awarded an MBE for more than 40 years of voluntary work

Westminster MP Karen Buck has been supporting Mrs Bryan in her battle with AJM, which is contracted to provide wheelchair services by the Central London Clinical Commissioning Group.

She has letters showing she waited months for one replacement manual chair ordered in 2017, which seemed to be forgotten after staff changed over. She then received a replacement which had not been altered correctly.

Kathy Bryan suffered a blood clot in her leg after her broken wheelchair crashed into her bed

In another example, about six months ago she was promised a smaller electric chair.

It has since been delivered but she can’t use it because there is not an electric footplate mechanism, which she needs to be able to lever herself into bed and onto the toilet independently.

Mrs Bryan is forced to continue using her 10-year-old wheelchair, while she waits for a replacement to be engineered.

She said she wanted her case to be known as she said the standard of care for disabled people in the UK has been declining for years.

"I’ve worked all my life and never sponged off the Government in any shape or form," she said.

"Even when I was working I was supporting people with disabilities, and I can’t believe the way I’ve been treated by the wheelchair company people."

AJM Healthcare's commercial director Guy Eatherington​ said the company was taking her case seriously and had launched an investigation.

"We are disappointed to hear that any service user is dissatisfied with their service from AJM Healthcare," he said,

Our primary objective now is to work with our client to resolve any outstanding wheelchair issues they have. This case has been escalated to our Clinical Director who will ensure that we contact [Kathy Bryan]," he said.

"With regards to the specific points raised we are unable to comment on the specific point of this case."

Mrs Bryan gets a disability living allowance of around £500 a month, but because she has life savings from decades of work at IBM, she pays around £1000 for disability care a month out of her own pocket.

"I’m not a millionaire," she said. I just worry how this is going to end up."

"I think people with disabilities are experiencing a lot of problems because of the cutbacks."

It is a trying time for Mrs Bryan with the second anniversary of her husband Eddie’s death from motor neurone disease looming on December 13.

"I’ve done so much for people in the community. I feel it’s about time someone did something for me," she said.