No Hospital Transport

Red_Doe

I live in a very remote area. In a medical emergency, they send out the chopper and you`re in hospital in less than an hour. Great.
But, if you have an outpatient visit..and the nearest hospital is across the other side of the country, literally...you`re basically expected to get there under your own steam. Which is fine if you have the cash you need to put out upfront, and if you are fit enough to travel such a long distance.
I have no personal transport for two reasons...can`t afford it and due to a medical condition, can`t drive anyway! (though if I could get a car, I would, and try to teach the other half to drive)
and I have an appointment coming up next week to go for an ultrasound. This is for quite a painful condition.
However...there is no outpatients transport. We`re expected to use either coach or train. Problem with that is, no public transport to the train from here aside from the post bus. And, main trouble is, it isn`t only the transport, but even with using coach and train, I wouldn`t be able to go there and back on the same day. That would mean an overnight stay in a bnb. And just having had to lay out for the same thing for a dentist visit, I can`t afford it so soon. You don`t actually get reimbursed for the overnight stay here as you are expected to, and I quote, "Ask a friend with a car to drive you" so you can get there and back on the same day.
Well, aside from me, the other half and the daughter, there`s only a very elderly couple relatively nearby.
So what it boils down to is, I have to cancel my ultrasound.
The doctor has given up hope, she has petitioned the local health authority about transport for the past couple of years and I think, has just given up the ghost.
I`m going to write to my local MP but doubt it`ll get anywhere, he`s a good man but it`ll fall on deaf ears as, let`s face it, with NHS cutbacks everywhere, a few isolated families out in the sticks are hardly priority.
But, you know, I have paid into the NHS like so many others. Sometimes, I wonder what for.
Is there anyone else in the same boat re outpatient transport? If so, have you found any solution to it?

chivers1977

This http://www.dh.gov.uk/dr_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/documents/digitalasset/dh_078372.pdf indicates that if you have a medical need which means that you cannot travel by public transport then the PCT need to pay........

Red_Doe

Thanks chivers, will check that out

ETA many thanks indeed, have saved it and will print it out, and haul it back to the doc and send it on to the MP!

gratefulforhelp_2

Check out the letter from the hosp. Ours (in a remote area) has a "ring and ride service".

mrcow

Can't you get a cab to the station?

Red_Doe

mrcow wrote: »

Can't you get a cab to the station?

No, afraid not. There is one localised subsidised taxi service here and it really is a local service. There isn`t any `station`...the coach to Lairg leaves from the garage at the nearest village..five miles away. From Lairg I have to walk a couple miles (not a hardship when well but if ill, definately so) to the post office to catch the next coach to Golspie if I get that as the cheapest option.
gratefulforhelp, thanks, but the letter doesn`t have that, though I`m calling them up on Monday to explain the situation and see what`s what. But others in similar situations have just been told, sort it yourself, or tough, so to speak.

silvercar

Is there a visitors room in the hospital you could stay in overnight? At worst could you sit out the night in casualty -I'm sure someone would take pity on you and find a spare bed. Most hospitals have pull out beds that they give to parents staying with young children.

Our GP offers a volunteer network of drivers to take people to appointments who can't manage alone.

Otherwise you have the choice of paying for a non subsidised cab yourself or missing your appointment

LondonDiva

When you are due an appointment, can you not stay with a friend who's not so remote as you?

The alternative is to pay for transport and reclaim the cost if you're eligable.

All hospitals have a patient transport team and if you're havign problems, contact the PALS team to see why you do not meet the criteria for transport - it could be that you are not unwell enough or the GP/consultant does not consider you need transport so it has not been noted on the referrral form so not booked.

Can you not get a cab to the station, then a cab to the hospital on the other side, staying with a mate to break the journey and reclaiming the cost of the cab & train? Even if you do get picked up by hospital transport, if you're so remote you will end up getting home every late as you will be the last to be dropped off.

Red_Doe

LondonDiva wrote: »

When you are due an appointment, can you not stay with a friend who's not so remote as you?

The alternative is to pay for transport and reclaim the cost if you're eligable.

All hospitals have a patient transport team and if you're havign problems, contact the PALS team to see why you do not meet the criteria for transport - it could be that you are not unwell enough or the GP/consultant does not consider you need transport so it has not been noted on the referrral form so not booked.

Can you not get a cab to the station, then a cab to the hospital on the other side, staying with a mate to break the journey and reclaiming the cost of the cab & train? Even if you do get picked up by hospital transport, if you're so remote you will end up getting home every late as you will be the last to be dropped off.

This is going to sound sad...but, I don`t have any friends to stay with!
I`m to phone the hospital Monday, the GP is the one who made the appointment but after battling the health authorities to try and get decent OP transport in this area and being told no, she`s given up...basically, they leave the patient to sort it out! :mad:
Don`t think I`ve explained the distances very well...I can pay my own way to get there and indeed, that`s what I did to get to the dentist in the same town. But there`s absolutely no way, doing that, to have my appointment and get back home on the same day. So that means an overnight stay. Which I don`t have the money for. I`ll throw myself on the mercy of the hospital though and see what they say.
If the hospital can arrange transport, I don`t mind what time of night I get home, at least it will save me and the NHS the cost of putting me up for the night.

hardpressed

Could you ask the hospital to reschedule your appointment time so that you can get there and back in one day? I drive for the local hospital car service, I give my time, the patients pay 40p a mile. I also live out in the sticks, but fortunately drive and my car is essential otherwise I'd be marooned, that is the disadvantage when you need to get anywhere when there is no public transport.

Red_Doe

Hi hardpressed, until recently we too had a voluntary OP system like the one you do, but the health authorities wouldn`t give folks enough money to cover petrol costs. At a meeting about it they sent someone from down south who would only say "We don`t want the system abused"
It really is a bit of a farce here, the amenities that used to be in place....visiting dentist, more than one doctor (the current one works over such a large area and services three communities) and hospital transport, as the older folks die off here, we notice they get taken away one by one.