In this audio, Mik describes his nightmarish trip to a private outsourced MRI clinic. The clinic was an hour’s drive from Mik’s home and when he finally got there he found reception was on the second floor and his wheelchair didn’t fit into the corridor leading to the lift, which, in any case, wasn’t working! He had to turn around and drive straight back home again. Mik had called up the clinic in advance and left a message asking if it was accessible, but no one had got back to him.

Mik believes many of the private clinics the NHS now uses for MRI scans are not set up to assist people, who, like him, have access needs and complicated health histories. This, says Mik, is not only difficult and annoying, but it is illegal.

Mik trains public and private organisations in the use of Public Sector Equality Duty practices. This Duty says that no public body can use any service that furthers exclusion or discrimination against anyone who has any of the nine protected characteristics, one of which is Disability.

Hiring a venue that isn’t accessible is like hiring a venue that says ‘no Gays’, says Mik.

In the case of Mik’s MRI clinic, both the clinic itself and the NHS are in breach of the Public Sector Equality Duty.

 

Click below to hear an audio of Mik’s frustrating health care experience.