Patient Transport

There appears to be a lot of this going on and indeed ambulances NOT turning up when booked due to staffing issues. This now appears to be up and down the country.

I am wheelchair, and yes there are voluntary organizations where I live but there are only a couple who are made up solely of volunteers. However, they will NOT take people in wheelchairs.

Therefore, it seems to becoming a nationwide issue now!

Use it myself.
Am on crutches and certainly cannot use public transport.
Not been on the underground train, alone, for nearly two years, since I had an ankle fusion.
Thanks for alerting me to this.
I have hospital transport booked for Friday. Shall call them up and check to see if it is still booked.
I am an out patient at three different hospitals and do not seem to be able to get hospital transport for all of them. So then I have to book a taxi at my own expense. Not always reliable though. I have Com Cab, and unfortunately there is only a certain allowance for use.
I.e. so many rides a year.

I was told the same thing in 2023. I did an F.O.I. request and found there was nothing in the criteria to suggest I no longer qualified.

A manager at the hospital told me that it was because I lived within 3 miles of the hospital. I explained that I couldn’t walk far enough to get from the the nearest taxi parking spot to the reception. The manager told me there was nothing in my medical records to support this.

I have cerebral palsy and like your mum I can only walk a few meters. I explained to the manager that the last time I had tried to get a taxi I only made it a few meters along the corridor before a member of hospital staff stopped to ask if I was ok and went to get me a wheelchair. The manager wouldn’t budge.

I got one of my hospital doctors to write me a letter stating that I needed hospital transport and they reinstated it. I have since managed to get a accurate description of my limitations with walking added to my hospital records.

I would suggest you & your mum do an F.O.I. for the new patient transport criteria and check your mum’s medical records accurately reflect how far she can walk. Also, get a doctor who knows your mum to write a supporting letter.

Has anyone else had this experience?