"Patient travel"

Living in the island of Barra, travel arrangements when travelling to and from hospital are very important. Due to have a knee replacement operation in Glasgow recently, the local patient travel office made my bookings for the plane Barra/Glasgow Glasgow/Barra. On the travel warrant it was very clear that I would need special requirements. While I did not need help on the way to Glasgow, I definitely needed help on the return journey.

Having had previous experience of one patient whose travel support was non existent, I checked and double checked that help had been booked, as did my son who was escorting me home. 

As the Golden Jubilee Hospital was distant from my daughter's flat, where he was staying, my son had booked a hire car for the weekend to return it to the airport for the return journey.  My care at the hospital was excellent, my problems started at the airport. My son had been informed that there was a yellow call phone in the car return centre. If there was we did not find it! I called the help centre to get a messaging service and left a message. This was at 11am for a 13.40 flight. 30 minutes later my son called again and this time got an answer, to be told the wheelchair would be another 15 minutes.

Eventually a wheelchair arrived and after a number of hitches we made our way through security along to the departure gate and were left there until boarding time. My son was able to go and bring me some lunch and coffee while we waited.

At every step of this process and days before we had checked that the wheel chair was booked and that the chair lift for the twin otter would be available, and at every step we were assured the facilities had been booked and were available.

So about 1pm a member of staff approached and asked me if I would be able to use the steps onto the plane - I said no I would not because of the type of steps and handrail on the aircraft, and that the chair lift had been booked. But they had no record of the chair lift being needed down at the gate for boarding. We were then waiting to find out what was happening and at one point saw the  ambu-lift vehicle arrive which of course is of no use for the twin otter! 

I was beginning to think i would be left in the airport and the plane would go without me and was extremely grateful that I had an escort with me as it looked as if if we had to stay overnight. Anyway by 2pm I was then taken to the plane, the chairlift had been sourced and I was boarded. Fine I thought, there will be no problems in Barra, but there was, no booking for the chair lift! but in Barra it was quickly utilised and i arrived home by 3.30pm.

I would like to make it clear that, I know the system, i had booked assistance, We had checked that the assistance was available for every step of the way but yet there was a major breakdown in communications between the time of the booking, the  airline and the airport. Every step of this process needs to be checked and information provided to all those concerned about the process for patient travel including the discharging hospital. I would assume that most patients being discharged from hospital to the airport are returning to islands.