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Care Opinion

Patient transport

Posted By CED

"Patient transport"

About: Musgrove Park Hospital / Colorectal surgery

(as a relative),

Due to unforeseen circumstances my mother in law needed transport for an NHS appointment.  I called the transport services and they took all her details and advised she qualified for transport on this occasion.  However, as soon as I confirmed the location of the appointment (Shepton Mallet Treatment Centre) I was advised that transport could not be provided.  I do not understand why as this is an NHS appointment and she was asked to go there as the waiting times at Musgrove Hospital are very high.  If the appointment had been at Musgrove transport could have been provided.

I felt very disappointed by this and I still do not understand the reasoning

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Responses

Response from Karen Holden, Associate Director of Patient Centred Care, Patient Experience, Musgrove Park Hospital 5 years ago
Karen Holden
Associate Director of Patient Centred Care, Patient Experience,
Musgrove Park Hospital

Submitted on 12/11/2018 at 12:55
Published on Care Opinion at 14:04

picture of Karen Holden

Dear CED, thank you for taking the time to post your experience. I am sorry to hear about this situation; as you say it doesn't appear to make sense.

I have contacted a colleague to ask about this situation and I will post a response as soon as I have heard.

Kind regards

Karen

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Update posted by CED (a relative)

Thanks Karen. I look forward to your response :-)

Response from Karen Holden, Associate Director of Patient Centred Care, Patient Experience, Musgrove Park Hospital 5 years ago
We have made a change
Karen Holden
Associate Director of Patient Centred Care, Patient Experience,
Musgrove Park Hospital

Submitted on 19/11/2018 at 09:10
Published on Care Opinion at 13:44

picture of Karen Holden

Hello again,

Patient Transport Service is run by the South West Central Commissioning Support Unit and I am advised that the information you were given was incorrect.

There is no policy that patients have to attend their local hospital, and your mother in law should have been given the option of transport to Shepton Mallet. It would either have required the volunteer car service or non-emergency patient transport service.

Thank you for raising this with us and we have asked the manager to discuss with the teams to rectify this incorrect knowledge, but if you would like to take it further, the complaints line for the service is 08000 851062.

Apologies again for the inconvenience this has caused and taking the time to raise this issue.

Kind regards

Karen

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Update posted by CED (a relative)

Hi Karen

Thank you for your response. I'm really pleased to hear that action has been taken so hopefully other patients (and relatives) don't find themselves in the situation I did.

Kind regards

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