Activities and users' views of a special seating clinic

We carried out an audit of the activities of a subregional special seating clinic from the departmental records covering a period of 1 year. A total of 113 patients were seen in the clinic; 64.6% of these were first-time referrals. Cerebral palsy was given as the primary diagnosis for 84.9% of the patients and the mean age was 12.2 years; 62.8% of the patients were provided with special seats, whereas 21.2% needed only a change of wheelchair to a more appropriate model. Though there appears to be a fairly high degree of satisfaction of the special seating clinic, the need for agreed and recorded goals at the assessment clinics, regular review arrangements and further research into usage pattern, as well as in other areas of special seating, is identified.