HOSPITAL chiefs have issued an urgent plea for missing wheelchairs to be returned, with patients struggling to get around because just a handful are left.

The News & Star understands porters at the Cumberland Infirmary have had to resort to finding beds to wheel patients around in because the wheelchair shortage has become so acute.

There are so few wheelchairs at the Cumberland Infirmary remaining that 40 new ones are being ordered at a cost of about £16,000.

They will take several weeks to arrive so in the meantime the North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust is appealing for the return of any of its hospital-owned chairs.

Cumberland Infirmary bosses are forking out the money for new wheelchairs because so many have disappeared in the last year.

It has emerged that 20 new wheelchairs – used by people visiting the Newton Road hospital for clinics, visits and appointments – were bought to boost its existing collection last year.

The number at the infirmary has now dwindled so much that it is believed there is only a handful left. Hospital bosses are unsure as to why so many wheelchairs have gone missing.

It is uncertain whether some have been stolen. But it is thought a number may have been taken inadvertently by patients and families and never returned. They are now being urged to bring them back so they can aid other patients in need.

A spokesperson for North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Carlisle hospital and the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven, said: “The trust is requesting that anybody who may be in possession of a hospital-owned wheelchair, please return it to the main reception desk at the Cumberland Infirmary.”

A year ago, about £4,000 of NHS cash was saved when West Cumbria Physiotherapy services, based at Whitehaven’s hospital, appealed for former patients to return walking aids like zimmer frames and elbow crutches that they no longer needed.