Paralympic champion blasts NHS ahead of competition for holding back athletes - 'Not fit for purpose'
Paralympics champion Richard Whitehead has hit out at the NHS
GETTY
Paralympics champion Richard Whitehead has lashed out at the NHS for failing to provide up-to-standard prosthetics.
Whitehead, a marathon runner who is a double above-the-knee amputee, has two Paralympic gold medals at shorter distances believes that a new wave of potential medallists are being held back by the policies at the NHS.
"I want to see a lot more young people running around [and] climbing trees in sports prosthetics, in running blades - I don't see them," he said.
The NHS does not provide sports prosthetics to adults and the costs of lower-limb prosthetics can vary from £1,000 to as high as £50,000.
Paralympics champion Richard Whitehead has hit out at the NHS
GETTY
There is a government fund that allows children to obtain sports prosthetics through any local NHS limb centre in England.
But as soon as they turn 18, the funding stops and patients are forced into buying their own - or give up sports.
Speaking ahead of the Paris Paralympics, which gets underway next week, Whitehead also criticised the prosthetics and said they were "not fit for purpose".
He revealed how they failed to allow for a full range of movement and can cause skin irritation while other countries are lightyears ahead with their technology and accessibility.
Whitehead has been an inspiration to many disabled athletes in the United Kingdom after winning a total of four medals from London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
In London, the Nottingham-born athlete won gold in the 200m before reclaiming his medal four years later in Brazil, as well as winning silver in the 100m.
And in Tokyo, he claimed silver in the 200m despite his preferred sport being marathon-running - having broken the world record for athletes with lower-limb amputations, with a time of 2:42:52 in 2010 at the Chicago Marathon.
Now the 48-year-old runs a charitable foundation to help disabled athletes reach similar heights and hopes he can inspire a new generation in Britain.
Two-time gold medal winner Richard Whitehead has stated the NHS is not fit for purpose
PA
That includes single-leg amputee Walid Saleh, who counts Whitehead as one of his heroes after watching him win gold at London 2012.
Whitehead's charity helped provide him with his first running limbs and the athlete now hopes to compete in 2028 at the Los Angeles Paralympics.
"The running blades allow me to overcome my disability," he said.
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Richard Whitehead has spoken out on his dissatisfaction with the NHS
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Ahead of the 2024 Paralympics, Whitehead said: "To have the next generation of Paralympic athletes and gold medallists, we need to make a change.
"And that change needs to start with the NHS really believing what is the best for the patients."
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