NHS trust tells wheelchair user to go to Pets at Home to be weighed

Health trust apologises after patient told to use ‘community-based’ options such as machines in shops intended for animals

An NHS trust has apologised after staff told a wheelchair user she would have to go to a pet shop to be weighed.

Sarah Rennie said that at first she laughed when health bosses in Shropshire advised her to go to Pets at Home because the suggestion was so absurd.

However, she told The Independent it later dawned on her that the situation was not acceptable and showed that “services everyone else can access aren’t possible for disabled people”.

Ms Rennie, 39, from Shrewsbury, who has muscle-wasting, needs to be weighed to monitor her medication and exercise and to ensure her weight remains stable.

Her difficulty began after she moved to Shropshire from Birmingham last year. Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust told her it was no longer commissioned to run its weighing clinic, which closed after the Covid pandemic.

“The rehabilitation service has now been utilised by other services and clients can be weighed when attending a clinic appointment only,” an email reply to her from the trust read.

The Midlands Centre for Spinal Injuries later said it encouraged her to do the same as its patients on discharge – “access community-based weighing options, including facilities such as Pets at Home, where they can roll onto the scales”.

However, Ms Rennie, a freelance transport consultant, said she would not put herself through the dehumanising experience of going to Pets at Home and would continue to battle for disabled people who are “invisible in the system”.

The trust was forced to apologise for offence caused by the incident, but Ms Rennie called for it to be honest about its lack of facilities.

“I can’t go to my GP surgery for a cervical smear because they don’t have a hoist and I’m OK with that, but I’m not OK with pretending services are there that don’t exist,” she told The Independent.

“Weight is a key indicator of health for people who are immobile, so to be able to access that information about our bodies is really important.”

She cannot stand or walk, so is unable to transfer to a different type of seat.

“I don’t blame individuals; it demonstrates the institutional lack of regard for the quality of our lives. I blame the policymakers”, she added.

Before moving, Ms Rennie bought a set of scales designed for weighing animals for about £50, but stopped using them because they were not designed for use with her equipment, and her personal assistant would have to be insured to use them.

She says hospital wards may have weighing facilities, but she doubts whether they would allow the public to walk in and use them.

“I don’t think any private facilities would be comfortable with that,” she said. “There’s a privacy issue and insurance to consider.

“This is an example of wider institutional health inequalities for disabled people, particularly women.

“In hospital, the number of older people unable to transfer is higher than you think. Families are helping them transfer so they’re not a visible part of the community, so we’re just constantly being forgotten.”

In a TikTok video, she said: “A very nice lady connected to my surgery suggested I go on local radio and see if any factory owners could help me.”

She added: “Do I look like a chipmunk?”

A spokesperson from NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, on behalf of the local health and care system, said: “We would like to apologise to Ms Rennie for any upset or offence caused.

“Although we are unable to comment on individual cases, we are continuing to look into her experience to fully understand the wider issues and identify what can be done for her and others in similar situations.”