Former HSSD board member Deputy Mike Hadley with the full wheelchair report which he handed out to States this morning. The HSSD version paints a very different picture to the original, he claims. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0726296)

MEMBERS of the Health and Social Services Department have been accused of misleading deputies by releasing a doctored version of a critical report into the wheelchair service it provides.

They are also said to have tried to hide behind data protection legislation in an attempt to justify issuing a watered-down version of the paper.

This came to light yesterday after sacked HSSD member Deputy Mike Hadley provided States members with a fuller copy of the work, which he amended to avoid identifying individuals.

What HSSD allowed deputies to see was a 12-page abstract from a detailed, 153-page study carried out by Alice Flower, the department’s senior occupational therapist.

According to Deputy Hadley, who was dumped for rocking the boat on Health’s political board, which is averse to public controversy, the select version gives a highly misleading view of the island’s wheelchair service. It implies things are largely well but that some improvements could be made.