Patients set for showdown with ambulance chief
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ANGRY patients in north-west Sutherland are to vent their frustration over medical transport in a showdown meeting with the head of the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS).
It follows a series of complaints over the patient transport service in an area where public transport is said to be "deteriorating".
Patients – including cancer sufferers – have complained about having to go through constant hurdles of bureaucracy or made to feel embarrassed about using the service.
Now a public meeting is to be held at Lochinver Village Hall on February 27 at 1pm – with representatives of other far north communities also invited to vent their frustration and seek change.
Pauline Howie, chief executive of the SAS, has agreed to meet people in north-west Sutherland after a plea from Highlands and Islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant, representatives of Assynt Community Council, patients and their families.
Mrs Grant wrote to Ms Howie after meeting constituents in Lochinver in August.
The community wanted to talk to the head of SAS about the need for improvement for the whole of the area. Previously it had met with north representatives of the service.
Residents felt that there was nothing happening to change the current patient transport service for the Assynt area and that it was being run from a central point in the central belt which was not engaging with the rural population.
Moreover, it was pointed out there was no longer a bus service which would allow people from the area to travel to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness and back in the same day, due to Highland Council subsidy cutbacks.
"I am delighted that Ms Howie is coming north as the journey will reinforce the community’s perspective," said Mrs Grant.
"What I have learned about people’s view of the service has troubled me, from problems with the system for booking patient transport, to patients reporting that they are ‘totally exhausted’ after some hospital trips due to the wide area covered for picking up people.
"The message from my meeting in the summer was that people did not want to abuse the patient transport system but wanted to ensure they could use it when it was really needed.
"This gives the community a chance to air their views to the person at the top and I’m hoping there will be a positive outcome for everyone involved."
Retired GP David Slator, chairman of Assynt Community Council, also welcomed the meeting and said some patients had been through "unbelievably distressing" situations to use the service.
"I am highly delighted that the SAS has agreed to come to Lochinver to meet with people who use the service. It has been a rumbling problem for some years involving all North West communities," he said.
"It will be good for her (Ms Howie) to hear people’s first-hand accounts of the difficulties they have encountered. I don’t want her to think this is just about a few bellyachers from Lochinver – it is far wider than that."
Mr Slator said sick patients who could technically drive were being told they could not use the service, that they could not take an escort when they were undergoing such gruelling treatments such as chemotherapy and even people undergoing regular treatment at Raigmore had to constantly fill in a needs assessment questionnaire.
"There are widespread issues with the service which need addressing," he said.
"They often involve the elderly with complex needs trying to access the service and given that the public transport is deteriorating there is no alternative for them."
Mr Slator appealed to users of the service who were prepared to speak at the meeting to contact him on david.slator@btinternet.com
Mrs Grant previously received a letter from the Scottish Government’s health secretary Shona Robison, which recommended a multi-agency group be established to identify potential solutions to the coordinations of the timing of hospital appointments and the provision of patient transport.
The ambulance service told the MSP it had been working to improve its processes to make sure the patient transport operation was as "patient-centred and efficient as possible."
In July it said it was going to be closely monitoring capacity management across Scotland and from August ambulance control centres would be advising on the point of booking whether they had capacity to support transport requests.
This was intended to provide patients with the opportunity to reschedule appointments in advance to move suitable day/time or to seek alternative transport arrangements. SAS said the intention was to prevent late notice cancelling of patient transport.
The ambulance service has previously admitted that there are issues with transport, and have begun trialling a system to reduce cancellations by introducing more effective long term planning.
A spokeswoman for the ambulance service said: "Pauline Howie looks forward to meeting with Rhoda Grant MSP and members of the community to discuss the patient transport service in Sutherland and is more than willing to listen to concerns and issues raised.
"I’m hoping there will be a positive outcome"
