Uk Patient Transport

[KICKSTART]

Ok so you may say we are spoilt but in the UK transport to &from dialysis is provided. I myself dont use as i prefer to drive , its quicker and the first thing i do when i get out of D is light up !  Well today we got a letter ..anyone else had it yet ? about the big shake up to transport? As from April 2011 , looks like you are going to have to prove you need transport (it was worded very flowery and full of concern) but to put it bluntly unless you can only crawl , you might well be on your own ! Now it may be possible to know you are fit enough to get in , but who the hell knows what they will be like when they come out ?  I dont know about anywhere else but public transport is pretty bad here (and who wants to sit on a bus in the rush hour after dialysis?) and taxis cost a fortune ! For me it would cost approx £20 a session for taxis. It costs me less than half to drive myself and free if i used hospital transport, but i dont mind driving in.

[Stoday]

I used to drive in until I had a heart attack 5 weeks ago. Now I use free hospital transport (i.e. a taxi paid for by the hospital). I have not had a letter. Maybe the transport policy is regional rather than national so I may never get a letter. 

You have to stop driving a car for four weeks after a heart attack. After my MI the heart surgeon was telling me about the month's ban when a silly bint in his team says "It's six weeks". Oh it's six weeks now then? says the surgeon. You'd better wait until after your angiography and any consequent procedures. That'll put me in the clear for the next six months I reckon.

I looked up the government advice to doctors. It's 4 weeks after a MI and 1 week after an angiography. The silly bint had got it mixed up with lorry drivers and bus drivers, whose driving ban is for six weeks.

[Stoday]

KS — I found a page that has links to stuff your regional NHS, Cheshire & Merseyside. I'm sure you'll find the pdfs interesting. They identify the special transport needs of ESRD patients.

For Kickstart

Policy is supposed to be if you need transport it's provided and it's free no matter what your income. If you don't need it, it's only free if you're on benefits.

[Riki]

my transport isn't free.  I think it's $7 per trip, which is about $15 cheaper than if I used a taxi.  i only use it to go in, and my mom picks me up after, so it's only $21 a week.  I think some of the drivers are a little pissy with me, cuz, since it's a disability transport system, they think that I"m only using it cuz it's cheaper, and that if it weren't for the dialysis, I wouldn't qualify, which isn't true, since I"m also legally blind.  one of the drivers actually just honks the horn when he pulls into my driveway, instead of coming to the door like they're supposed to.

[Poppylicious]

We haven't had a letter ... is it regional or national, Kickie?

As it happens, Blokey drives.  If he didn't he would have to give up work because he has twilight shifts and there is no public transport to either of our nearest dialysis-providing hospitals after six in the evening. A taxi to one would cost about £20 for a one way trip (14 miles), the other would cost £50 for a one way trip (about 28 miles)!  When he has been provided hospital transport (usually a taxi, sometimes a volunteer in their own car) after operations or somesuch, he has learnt that taxi firms give a very small discount when used by the hospital - the £50 one way trip becomes £40.

I look forward to seeing if we get a letter.

 

[KICKSTART]

As far as i know it going to be policy for ALL hospital transport (cut-backs) It may well be regional to start with ? It has been done in another area , not NW. Oh and the 'gobby' nurse that knows everything (the one i had the run in with) pipes up ..Yeah it costs a million pounds a year to provide taxis for D patients in our area and that other place that tried it have saved £700,000 ..........my  as if she would know !!!!

[Ken Shelmerdine]

We have not had the letter but I'll be surprised if we don't. What was all that s**t from the coalition that the NHS would be 'ring-fenced?' It wasn't so long ago that we all got free private taxis to and from D then they stopped that and the only option was free community buses where If you're  first on you're last off so you get home at daft o'clock after D.

I myself use my car which enables me to come straight from work. I can also claim petrol expenses at 13p a mile which isn't much but it's better than a kick up the 

[Poppylicious]

I myself use my car which enables me to come straight from work. I can also claim petrol expenses at 13p a mile which isn't much but it's better than a kick up the 

Petrol expenses?  Is that through work or dialysis? If the latter, how do you manage to do that!?

 

[KICKSTART]

Ken, you get 13p ? I only get 10p !
Poppy, do you have a secretary on the renal unit? If not ask one of the 'senior' nurses. Our secretary sorted it for me , she wrote a letter confirming i was at D and the days i attended, i then took this down to the main office in the hospital.  If you get no joy that way ask the social worker ? I also get free parking ..dont know if anyone else does? I have an NHS Pass that states im on D , so i dont pay carpark charges.

[Stoday]

When I drove in, I paid for car parking at a reduced rate — £2.60 a week. I didn't know you could claim petrol costs. Maybe I should try it on to offset the car park charges.

[Poppylicious]

Oh, we get the free parking ... Blokey even uses the pass if he's just having an appointment and no dialysis.

*ssshhh*

They actually have special designated parking for dialysis patients and are pretty good at making sure nobody else uses them.  But the mileage allowance is something I didn't know about.  I shall mention it to Blokey this very evening! Thanks for the heads up my lovelies!

When I drove in, I paid for car parking at a reduced rate — £2.60 a week. I didn't know you could claim petrol costs. Maybe I should try it on to offset the car park charges.

My Mumsy worked at the hospital where you have dialysis (I think - how freaky does that make me sound ... how do I even know?!) and if she was still there I would get her to look into parking charges for you (she worked for the department that had their fingers in all the little pies). I know that £2.60 a week is good, but it would be better if it was free wouldn't it?!

 

[KICKSTART]

  you are welcome ..every little helps ! I sound like a Tesco advert 

[Stoday]

My Mumsy worked at the hospital where you have dialysis (I think - how freaky does that make me sound ... how do I even know?!) and if she was still there I would get her to look into parking charges for you (she worked for the department that had their fingers in all the little pies). I know that £2.60 a week is good, but it would be better if it was free wouldn't it?!

Yeah, the hairs on the back of my neck are standing up...

[carla13]

Interesting, I haven't had a letter yet, and I'm still relying on ambulance transport to get me to Liverpool every week for my TX checkups, though I've heard that I'll have to make my own way after christmas, (which I don't mind as I'm almost feeling up to it now..)

This is just another case of cutbacks in the wrong places that punish those most vulnerable in society while protecting the rich (NHS execs sure won't be submitting to paycuts....)

I'm hoping so much that my TX lasts a decent amount of time because I'm sure it's going to be much tougher to be ill in the coming years than it is now. I fear for all us dialysis patients. In an ideal society, people who are sick should not have to worry about such things, their only concern should be getting better. If only we could let politicians feel how wretched D can make you just for fifteen minutes, they'd be queuing up to improve our lot....

[Poppylicious]

If only we could let politicians feel how wretched D can make you just for fifteen minutes, they'd be queuing up to improve our lot....

Have you written to/emailed your MP?  Blokey wrote to his just after the elections about changing organ donation to an opt-out system.  Our MP replied that no, the government weren't looking to change it at all, and even if they were going to he would definitely oppose it ... he didn't give a reason though.  It would have been nice if he did, to explain his position. I'd respect him more for explaining why. (I realise that even on here there are people who wouldn't want an opt-out system and I respect that; I just would have liked the person who's supposed to represent us to give us a reason so I can nod my head and say, Yeah, fairy snuff.)

In other words, I'm not so sure they'd necessarily be queueing up to improve anything ...

 

[carla13]

Hi Poppylicious, Yes, I have written to our MP recently asking him to attend the inauguration of Transplant 2013 back in November. He wrote back with a list of statistics about what NHSOBT were doing to improve the number of transplants. Didn't mention at all whether he would be going or supporting this organisation. Funnily enough I wrote to him again on this point this morning.

I feel like I'm starting to sound mental though, but like the majority of politicians he doesn't seem to want to give a straight answer. In my letter this morning I also asked him how he was going to protect services for patients in his ward of Chester. We'll see what he comes up with...
 

[Stoday]

We have not had the letter but I'll be surprised if we don't.

A month has passed and I still have not had a letter.

[Poppylicious]

We haven't had one either. 

[Ken Shelmerdine]

Kickstart we got the letter last week. The flowery terms were and I like this one. 'We will now be giving dialysis patients the ''OPTION' of using alternative transport other than the hospital provider' Oh we're really going to ponder over that one aren't we? Thank you so much for giving us patients the 'OPTION' of walking to a public transport bus stop and waiting there in the pissing rain after 4 hours dialysis for a bus to arrive about 20 minutes late if our public transport system is anything to go by.

And also, 'EXPLORE' the possibilities of using your own transport such as your car if you are able to drive or maybe making arrangement for one of your family or friend to drive you. Well thanks very much NHS but I understood that I already have the option of using my car which I do and and just about every other patient if they could would do so like a shot instead of getting home at daft o'clock in the transport provided.

Here is the un flowery version of the letter
If you can't drive but you can walk or crawl you're not having hospital transport you can dam well catch a bus or totally inconvenience a member of your family or a friends to get you there and back.

Oh and by the way Kickstart our petrol expenses have now dropped to 11p a mile.   

[Stoday]

Ken, you should think yourself lucky that no one's told you to "get on yer bike".

 

[carla13]

I haven't had a letter yet, neither have I received a reply from Mr Mosely, the MP for Chester...shoddy.

 

[KICKSTART]

Aha Ken , so 'the' letter has turned up ! Nothing has changed here and i drive in anyway but im lucky its not so far to my unit. Hey you are still getting 1p a mile more than me ! I wonder if we will get an increase now VAT has gone up? I bet we dont !  I went to claim my expenses the other day , because its such a vast amount  i tend to go about once every 3 months. Because im a dialysis patient im 'on file' at the office , so i dont have to go through all the formalities every time , till this week!  The woman behind the desk just couldnt grasp ...go find my file , im here 3 x a week . She thought i was claiming for one day , then for one week. Then seriously asked me how long did i think i would be coming and would it always be 3 x a week ..surely not. Like i was trying to fleece them !!!! Then she nearly threw the money at me with a look that spoke volumes , like oh yeah another scrounger taking my hard earned taxes. Thing is , it would cost them a dam site more if i used the hospital transport !!!! as it is im out of pocket , the car hasnt been invented that can do a mile for 10p !!

[Ang]

here in melbourne patient transport is free but have to prove there is no other option and you can be waiting for hours for a pick up to take you home(thats rare though).