A WHEELCHAIR service says it needs more money from the NHS after an 86-year-old man was housebound for 10 months while waiting for a chair.

Gravesend resident Gordon Lewin suffered a heart attack in October 2006 and was in a coma for three months.

When he left Darent Valley Hospital in January last year he needed a wheelchair to get around outside but a chair was not available until November.

The Second World War veteran was stuck in his home in Elizabeth Court, relying on his daughter to take him on trips.

His daughter, 50-year-old Gail Price, said: “I assumed the wheelchair would be available when he needed it last January, but was told he’d have to wait 48 weeks.

“It was an outrageous amount of time to wait.”

Mr Lewin had to wait 43 weeks to get the wheelchair from the Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust, which provides NHS wheelchairs.

It is commissioned to do this by the West Kent Primary Care Trust (PCT), which is responsible for Dartford and Gravesham.

The service says the PCT has not made enough money available to meet the annual demand for wheelchairs in the area.

Its chief executive, Erville Millar, said: “As a trust we can only spend money on supplying wheelchairs up to the £674,436 we are commissioned to do so.

“The demand outweighs this level and the PCT needs to provide us with more funding to enable to us to meet the needs of people.”

It says it has asked the PCT for extra funding.

On average, people needing an NHS wheelchair for outdoor use wait 35 weeks in Dartford and Gravesham.

Daryl Robertson, the PCT’s director of planning and performance, said: “In some cases, waits for wheelchairs are currently unacceptable.

“The PCT is committed to improving the service to patients and we will be looking urgently at the best way to do this.”

Gravesham MP Adam Holloway was told Mr Lewin was not a high priority as he only needed the chair for outdoor use.

He said: “The Red Cross can offer wheelchairs on the same day.

“Perhaps the PCT should commission wheelchair provision from organisations which can deliver a quick turnaround.”