A three-year-old girl who is blind and disabled has been forced to endure a seven month wait for a specialist NHS pram.

Wheelchair provider Millbrook Healthcare was awarded the contract to supply all eight of the health service’s clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in Kent, back in April 2017.

But Nick McDonald and Jo Woollard from Maidstone feel they have been let down by the firm, after the buggy their daughter, Mia May, was measured up for last November never arrived.

The three-year-old has an undiagnosed condition which means she is blind and cannot walk, talk or crawl. She struggles to hold up her body weight unsupported and one of her hips is slowly moving out of place due to the muscle not being built up from her walking

Mr McDonald, 37, of Gainsborough Drive, said: “We had been given a pram which was unsuitable because Mia May wasn’t comfortable.

“Millbrook took it back in November 2017. They measured her up for a pram and we tried it out and it was perfect. They told us they had to order it from America and that it would take six to eight weeks.

“It got to December and January and then we chased them up in mid February. Nobody got back to us and then one day somebody called us back and said it hadn’t been ordered.

He added: “Mia May is just in a high street buggy at the moment but that is no good. She isn’t supported and she ends up slouching in it because she can’t sit properly. I have written to Helen Grant because Millbrook Healthcare has been atrocious.”

Mr McDonald, an IT salesman, made a formal complaint but had heard nothing from Millbrook until the KM contacted the company for a comment.

The firm has since apologised to the family and said the buggy should arrive within 28 days. A letter from the company explained: “we are currently experiencing pressure on our wheelchair service”.

A spokesman for Millbrook Healthcare said they could not comment on individual cases, but that they were investigating the family’s concerns.

NHS Thanet CCG, which is in charge of buying wheelchair services in Kent, said Millbrook had inherited a backlog of orders and that the two organisations would be working together to undertake an audit to help resolve the issue. A statement said: “We are aware that patients are waiting longer for equipment, repairs and assessment than we would like and we are sorry for any inconvenience this may be causing.”

Meanwhile, Mia May’s family is trying to raise money for private physiotherapy in the hope she will one day be able to walk on her own.

To donate visit www.tinyurl.com/miamay