WestMARC

The service can be contacted via telephone 0300 790 0129 Monday to Friday 8:45am to 4:15pm, excluding NHS public holidays.

Service is also contactable via email: westmarc@ggc.scot.nhs.uk

For anyone who has not used our service before, a referral form needs to be submitted by healthcare profession or social worker registered with one of the following bodies: Nursing and Midwifery Council, Health and Care Professions Council, General Medical Council or Scottish Social Work Council.

Adult Manual Wheelchair Referral Form
Adult Powered Wheelchair Referral Form
Paediatric Referral Form

Please review guidance document prior to making a referral:
Guidance Notes for Adult Manual Wheelchair Referral Form
Guidance Notes for Adult Power Wheelchair Referral Form

Please refer to the National Wheelchair Eligibility Criteria before making a referral.

Anyone who has used the wheelchair service before can self-refer if their conditions and/or requirements change by contacting the service directly for reassessment or advice.

Alternatively a healthcare professional can refer on their behalf by submitting a reporting form:
Adult Reporting Form
Paediatric Reporting Form

When the service receives a new referral it will be assessed by a clinician who will review the information and decide whether you require an assessment or whether a chair can be issued from the information that has been provided. If an assessment is required you will be added to waiting list for a clinic appointment.

Clinics are conducted within the centre and at many satellite locations across the West of Scotland. Your appointment letter will specify the location of your appointment.

West of Scotland Mobility and Rehabilitation Centre
Queen Elizabeth University Hospital
1345 Govan Rd, Glasgow
G51 4TF
Map link to WestMARC at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital

There is also a depot where the service’s equipment store, repair facility and technicians are located:

WestMARC Yoker Depot
Unit 20,
Halley Street,
New Albion Industrial Estate,
Yoker,
G13 4DJ
Map link to WestMARC Yoker

Motherwell Depot
WestMARC Motherwell,
Unit 33 Fern Street
Motherwell
ML1 2AJ
Map link to WestMARC Motherwell

Drop in repairs available Monday to Friday 9am – 3:45pm. The Motherwell hub is a smaller unit and we are unable to hold all parts, please call 0300 790 0129 in advance to confirm parts are in stock to complete the repair.

Satellite Clinic Locations:

Douglas Grant Rehabilitation Centre
Ayrshire Central Hospital
Kilwinning Road
Irvine
KA12 8SS

Stirling Community Hospital
Rehabilitation Hub
Livilands Gate
Stirling
FK8 2AU

Dumfries and Galloway
Community Rehabilitation Unit
1^st Floor – North Entrance
Bankend Road
Dumfries
DG1 4AP
Mountainhall Treatment Centre ***

If your chair is in need of repair you should contact the service immediately. You might find Standard Wheelchair Parts*** helpful for explaining what part of the chair requires a repair.

Equipment is repaired free of charge by the service. Our mobile engineer repair service will usually visit and repair equipment at service users home or other suitable setting. 

If a complex repair is needed than it may be necessary to bring the equipment into our workshop to carry out the work.

WestMARC Yoker depot and the WestMARC Motherwell Hub are open for drop in repairs Monday to Friday 9.00 am to 3.45 pm. Please see ‘Clinic Locations’ for address details. Note, Motherwell hub is a smaller unit and we are unable to hold all parts, please call 0300 790 0129 in advance to confirm parts are in stock to complete the repair.

Equipment is loaned by the service and it is service user’s responsibility to keep equipment in good condition.

Any accident or adverse incident that occurs with equipment provided from the service should be reported so that the service can record and followed up if necessary. This helps us to improve safety for all service users.

See here for more Information about Repairs and Maintenance and Wheelchair Terms and Conditions.

Wheelchair Maintenance/Skills

National Wheelchair Managers Forum has created the following video guides to NHS Wheelchairs that you may find instructional:

• The Parts of a Wheelchair
• Using a Wheelchair
• Transportation
• Maintenance
• Your NHS Wheelchair

Please see video resources created by SMART Centre, Edinburgh on wheelchair demonstration/operation. Adult Manual Wheelchair video demonstrates transporting manual wheelchair into a vehicle.

• Adult User Controlled Powered Wheelchair
• Children’s User Controlled Powered Wheelchair – YouTube
• Dual Control Powered Wheelchair – YouTube
• Adult Manual Wheelchair – YouTube
• Major Buggy Demonstration – YouTube

The Wheelchair Skills College provide video resources on wheelchair skills including tutorials on cleaning castor wheels.

Back Up Trust provide information on wheelchair skills courses. Please read Wheelchair Skills College disclaimer before practising skills.

Power Chair Charging

Please see following advice on charging your electric powered wheelchair:

How to look after your Powerchair battery | Invacare – YouTube

Transportation

This video from 6:09 demonstrates how to disassemble and transport your wheelchair in the boot of a car.

Please see Travel Safe Leaflet produced by Posture and Mobility group on transport of wheelchair seated passengers.

Please see video demonstration produced by Motability on How to use your Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle (WAV) Tie Downs or Restraints.

Motability Scheme helps you use your mobility allowance to lease a car, wheelchair accessible vehicle, scooter or powered wheelchair.

Information on how to apply for a blue badge which allows you to park in disabled parking bays.

MyBus is a bookable bus service offering door-to-door transport for shopping, GP appointments, visiting friends, attending local clubs, and much more. Journeys need to be booked in advance.

Disability Information Scotland website has information on travel concessions for disabled people in Scotland.

The Scottish Driving Assessment Service helps people who wish to start (or resume) driving after illness or accident, and to provide assessment/advice on an individual’s fitness to drive in relation to any medical issues.

Other

Please see Self Management – NHSGGC toolkit developed by NRU which educates and provides references for conditions, physical activity, getting out and about, psychological wellbeing and other helpful resources.

Wheelchair Repairs

Power Pack Leaflet

Information about lap straps for wheelchairs

Transporting your wheelchair

Wheelchair – Preventing pressure ulcers

Wheelchair Conditions of Supply

The Prosthetics service provides upper and lower limb care to approximately 52% of Scotland’s population. Our clinics deliver life long prosthetic care for individuals with amputation and/or congenital absence of a limb. This may include patients with multiple level limb absence and/or complex clinical requirements.

There is an on-site workshop where our technical team manufacture and repairs new and existing limbs. We provide medical clinics and a multidisciplinary clinic where new patients and referrals, approximately 300 per year, are assessed.

The inpatients for this service are mainly based at The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital whilst outpatients, approximately 3,500, come mainly from Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Argyll, forth valley, Lanarkshire, Dumfries & Galloway and some other Scottish Health Boards.

Patient referrals are received by the service from:

• Primary patient referrals from the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital or other hospitals.
• Self referrals from existing patients and or carers.
• Referrals from GPs, Consultants and other Health Care Professionals

WestMARC serves as one of the locations for the Specialist Prosthetics Service. It is responsible for the assessment, prescription and provision of state-of-the-art (SOTA) prostheses. A single multidisciplinary team based over two sites, WestMARC and the SMART centre at Astley Ainslie Hospital in Edinburgh, deliver this national service for eligible limb users.

The aim of our service is to provide a high quality, specialist outpatient physiotherapy service for new and established adult and paediatric patients who have had an amputation or limb loss.

The Team

• Joanne Hebenton – Team Lead Physiotherapist
• Nikki Porteous – Specialist physiotherapist
• Damien McGovern – Specialist Physiotherapist
• Grace Ferguson – Specialist Physiotherapist
• Lorraine Douglas – Support worker
• Rotational Physiotherapist

What We Do

We aim to make patients as independent as possible whilst taking a goal centred approach. Gym sessions are held Monday to Friday which facilitates patients to use their prosthetic limb and improve their walking or transfers. Patients can also be provided with a home exercise programme for their walking, strength and balance.

We also have close links with the 3rd sector and work closely with Finding your Feet which are a Scottish based charity supporting people after amputation or limb loss finding your feet and Scottish Disability Sport Scotland among others. The department is involved nationally, in promoting and developing expertise in prosthetic physiotherapy practice, education, research and audit.

Our custom built gym and courtyard facility is based within WestMARC. We share these facilities and work closely with the wider multidisciplinary team such as the Occupational Therapist, Prosthetists, Nurses, Clinical Psychologist and Bioengineers.

Other services we provide are:

• Information support groups
• Group exercise classes
• Running class
• Pre amputation consultations
• Gait laboratory assessments
• Multidisciplinary paediatric clinics
• Assessment for suitability for a prosthetic limb
• Osseointegration service
• Training and assessment for those referred to the Scottish Specialist Prosthetic Service which provides advanced prosthetic components via a national panel
• Paediatric and young adult activity days (Yearly)

Please read the BACPAR WestMARC Knee Guides

WestMARC Physiotherapy staff along with team at Finding You Feet some instructional videos on transfers for new amputees.

Bed to Upright

Wheelchair to bed with board

Bed to wheelchair with board

Wheelchair to bed with pillow

Bed to wheelchair with pillow