"Accessing New Victoria Hospital Clinic"

I drove my elderly father to the New Victoria Hospital in Glasgow yesterday. I stopped in the drop off point and went to collect a wheeled chair for him as he has mobility difficulties. There were no chairs available at the rear entrance so I walked through to the front entrance and asked the Patient Information helpers for assistance.

A call was put out, and I was told to wait at the rear entrance and a porter would bring a chair. When I returned to the rear entrance, another man was also waiting for a chair for his passenger. Time passed, as did a porter doing a search and then the Patient Helper came to see if I had obtained a chair - which I hadn't. She joined the search. I informed a nurse in the Warfarin Clinic, where my father was overdue to attend, that we were awaiting a chair, and she said not to worry - I also kept nipping back to the car to update my father on what was happening.

Unfortunately, no chair was found in 35 minutes of searching and waiting by numerous helpful people. By this time, my father was beginning to suffer from his confinement in the car and wanted to return home, so I went back to the clinic to inform the same nurse that, as we could not get a chair, my father would have to cancel his appointment. As luck would have it, the nurse said she had a portable machine with her today, and would bring this out to my father, which she did. So he had his blood test done in the car by the nurse with the portable equipment. I would like to say a big thank you to this nurse and the Patient Helpers and Porters who searched for one of the wheeled chairs.

I am concerned that there are so few available at the hospital and the difficulties this is causing. I was informed at one point that these chairs can be stolen, hence the shortage, so maybe a wheel locking system, similar to those used on some shopping trolleys, could be considered or some other form of preventing the thefts. A lot of people's valuable time could be saved and help the smooth running of the clinics and hospital as a whole.