‘It would set a precedent’: Warning to Brora Community Council over awarding grant for transport to hospital
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Brora community council has been advised not to provide a £200 micro-grant to pay for a taxi to take a local resident to and from two hospital appointments.
Ellen Lindsay, a director of Brora Development Trust warned that the move would “set a precedent” and that spending £200 on one person was not going to help the overall transport difficulties faced by patients overall.
You would be setting a fairly dangerous precedent by doing that this time around,” she said.
Mrs Lindsay was speaking at the April meeting of the community council which was held on Tuesday evening at Brora Community Centre.
Community council secretary Sandy Crawford said he had been contacted by a local woman whose husband had to attend two appointments at Caithness General Hospital in Wick later this month and next month.
“She can’t get transport for her husband. None of their friends or family are available, he said.
Mr Crawford said he had looked into NHS patient transport without success and had also approached a local taxi driver who had quoted £100 for a return trip to Wick.
He suggested that in this case a micro-grant could be used as payment to pay for the taxi as a one-off.
“I was phoning all over the place and it was a last resort. The woman was beside herself because her husband needs treatment.” he said.
The community council awards micro-grants of up to £500 to individuals and groups for “charitable purposes for the general benefit of local residents.”
Brora Community Council have typically used micro-grants to pay for driving lessons for local young people to help them overcome the disadvantage of living in a rural area.
Mrs Lindsay said patient transport was a “big problem” in the village, which has a large number of elderly residents, and that the development trust was working with ward councillor Richard Gale to provide a community electric car, but it was a “long way off”.
“This is something we need to address in a more holistic way,” she said “If you make a payment like this once, then people expect it.”
Chairman Russell Rekhy told the Northern Times today that transport had now been found for the patient in question.
“A family friend has now offered to take them to hospital,” he said.
“While we have found a solution for this family, I wonder how many other families or individuals are struggling to attend hospital when they do not have any extended family or friends who can step in to help.
“This must be very distressing, which will add to their existing health conditions.”
