Campaigning for Change
Survival is only the beginning. We're calling on government to close the gaps in care for people with limb loss and limb difference, at every stage of life. Our parliamentary briefing sets out the evidence and eight clear recommendations in full.
Why we're campaigning
More than 13,000 major amputations take place across England and Scotland each year, and around 1 in 1,600 children are born with a limb difference. Behind every one of those numbers is a person, and a family, navigating a system that isn't yet joined up around them.
The policy framework already exists. The problem is consistent delivery. Support depends far too much on where you happen to live, and lived experience still isn't embedded in how services are designed and run. We're asking government to work in partnership with us to change that.
What we're asking for
A national audit and registry, so services can be measured, outcomes tracked, and the postcode lottery brought to an end.
Lifelong, joined-up pathways, with proper transition planning so no young person falls through the gap at 18, and support that continues into adulthood.
Better mental health support, available consistently across the country and across a lifetime.
Clear information at diagnosis, co-produced with people who've been there, so families aren't left to find support on their own.
A stronger workforce, tackling the national shortage of prosthetists, orthotists and rehabilitation staff, and employing more people with lived experience.
Lived experience at the heart of it, formally embedded in how services are designed, monitored and improved.
Read the reasoning and evidence behind each in the full briefing.
Making change happen
This year, the Alliance came together in Parliament for the first time in over a decade. Alongside people with lived experience, we gathered at Westminster with Dr Marie Tidball MP to put access to mental health support, inequalities in prosthetic provision, and public attitudes directly in front of decision-makers.
This is just the beginning.
“You can only be what you can see. I want every young person with limb difference to know they can achieve whatever they set their minds to.”
Dr Marie Tidball MP