rachel.blog

Daniel's swollen foot

Stupid policies

Daniel is still hobbling around on crutches. It has been more than a week now since he fell off his bike but just yesterday he started to be able to put a little bit of weight on his foot. He’s not quite ready to dispense with the crutches fully but maybe by the end of the week. His foot is still swollen. This photo was taken last night.

When we left the hospital last week they didn’t give him any crutches because he didn’t have a fracture. I contacted Daniel’s school to see whether they had any and was told we had to get them from the NHS so that he could be trained to use them. How stupid is this? The NHS won’t give them to you, presumably because they’re strapped for cash, but the school wouldn’t lend him any (and I know they have them) because they say he needs training from the NHS first. Against stupidity the Gods themselves contend in vain.

In the end we got some from Abledeen, a local charity that provides mobility aids for people with disabilities. They have a shop at Union Square with a number of crutches which they’ve acquired from people who abandon them in the shopping centre. These are probably the NHS-issued crutches which I’ve since discovered they don’t take back. Daniel wouldn’t have been able to go to school for over a week now had he not had crutches. Were we just meant to keep him home from school all this time and more?

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Rachel M

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2 responses to “Stupid policies”

  1. Denise Avatar
    Denise

    People who needed crutches at school always turned up with their own from the NHS but I guess that was for a break. I think crutches are supposed to be adjusted to your height, which would be covered by the training. If the school didn’t know how to do that, I imagine they could have lent them to you and told you to find a video. Really I think the NHS should have given you crutches though, because the effects of the injury were the same as a break, not being able to load bear.
    That looks a nasty sprain, poor Daniel.

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    1. Rachel M Avatar
      Rachel M

      It’s very easy to adjust the height of crutches. I don’t doubt that anyone could do it. But I wonder why the school have crutches at all? Presumably if someone has received training from the NHS they’ll have been given crutches too so what’s the point of the school having them if they’re only prepared to lend them to someone who already has them? They’re just taking up space and gathering dust.

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