Based on the linked source; automatically prepared and checked against the original report.
Incident dataset
Researchers examined 752 adverse incidents reported by NHS WestMARC between 2020 and 2025. They grouped events across standard, lightweight, ultralight, tilt-in-space and paediatric manual wheelchair models, assessing falls and injuries associated with component failures.
Risk patterns and components
Relative-risk analysis found elevated, but not statistically significant, fall and injury risks for tilt-in-space, ultralight and paediatric models, with RR values from 1.08 to 1.29. FMEA scores identified casters, belts, brakes, frames and wheelchair-system incidents among higher-risk categories. Regression analysis also linked fall status and injury severity with component failures.
Proposed prevention framework
The researchers combined Failure Mode and Effects Analysis with natural language processing to identify risk scenarios and contextual factors, including transfers, outdoor navigation and belt misuse. The proposed tiered approach emphasises risk identification, user training, suitable provision, design improvements and routine servicing. The study also identifies potential future uses of these methods in incident-reporting systems, clinical practice, policy and product design.
