General Practitioners and Wheelchair Prescribing

Abstract

A random sample of general practitioners was surveyed by postal questionnaire to determine their knowledge of wheelchairs and wheelchair prescribing, and their opinion of the usefulness of the A0F5G for wheelchair prescribing. Seventy-four per cent considered their knowledge of wheelchairs to be ‘not very good’ or worse, and one-third found the A0F5G to be inadequate for prescribing and difficult to complete. Inadequacy of training was identified as the likely cause of these findings. Improved educational programmes for doctors at both an undergraduate and a postgraduate level would raise the standards of wheelchair prescribing.