My hospital transport saga
Posted: 07 Nov 2023, 13:17Here we go, transport was booked at 4pm and I was told there could be a wait of up to 2hrs, but as I was a non weight bearing patient I couldn't be moved to the discharge lounge. but would have to stay where I was. Not so good as it's also where they send A&E triaged patients needing attention, some very drunk and abusive.
The chap on the desk dealing with the fracture clinic was giving me regular updates as he was tracking my transport. We both got excited when they showed my pick up but then they stopped about 10mins from the hospital and just stayed there for over an hour. They finally arrived just after 8.30pm, their excuse was heavy traffic. I did casually let slip the hospital had been tracking them so that changed to we had to have a break, How convenient it was beside the Toby Carvery!!
Sadly that wasn't the end of it, once I was finally in the ambulance and strapped onto the stretcher I was told we had to drive round to collect a patient from the discharge lounge. An old lady with her carer was brought to the ambulance, but although she had managed to sit in a seat to get there, she was so tired and frail they couldn't get her strapped in safely and she was travelling back to Canterbury. I did offer to change places with her and sit in the chair being careful to keep my leg up, but of course they couldn't do that, if anything went wrong, sharp braking etc they would be judged irresponsible. I obviously understood that, but the following saga was ridiculous. It took 30mins to get through to their control who then decided the old lady would have to go home by taxi paid for by G4S. Great I thought, err no, they booked a taxi from Canterbury so we were both stuck in the ambulance waiting for him to arrive. Complete nonsense, a taxi in Ramsgate could have been with us within 10mins and either meant a round trip so wouldn't have cost them any more. As it was we were stuck in the cold, my bare toes were absolutely freezing, but the old lady had to take precedence and they only had one blanket. To add to the nonsense the taxi driver got lost when he got the the hospital. It's a massive building with a number of entrances and I think he drove round in circles trying all of them. Our driver was giving him very good and concise directions but it took him another 30mins to find us and then they had the hard job getting the poor lady into it. Frankly it was a complete fiasco, hence me not getting home till 10.15pm!!
I'm dreading next time
The chap on the desk dealing with the fracture clinic was giving me regular updates as he was tracking my transport. We both got excited when they showed my pick up but then they stopped about 10mins from the hospital and just stayed there for over an hour. They finally arrived just after 8.30pm, their excuse was heavy traffic. I did casually let slip the hospital had been tracking them so that changed to we had to have a break, How convenient it was beside the Toby Carvery!!
Sadly that wasn't the end of it, once I was finally in the ambulance and strapped onto the stretcher I was told we had to drive round to collect a patient from the discharge lounge. An old lady with her carer was brought to the ambulance, but although she had managed to sit in a seat to get there, she was so tired and frail they couldn't get her strapped in safely and she was travelling back to Canterbury. I did offer to change places with her and sit in the chair being careful to keep my leg up, but of course they couldn't do that, if anything went wrong, sharp braking etc they would be judged irresponsible. I obviously understood that, but the following saga was ridiculous. It took 30mins to get through to their control who then decided the old lady would have to go home by taxi paid for by G4S. Great I thought, err no, they booked a taxi from Canterbury so we were both stuck in the ambulance waiting for him to arrive. Complete nonsense, a taxi in Ramsgate could have been with us within 10mins and either meant a round trip so wouldn't have cost them any more. As it was we were stuck in the cold, my bare toes were absolutely freezing, but the old lady had to take precedence and they only had one blanket. To add to the nonsense the taxi driver got lost when he got the the hospital. It's a massive building with a number of entrances and I think he drove round in circles trying all of them. Our driver was giving him very good and concise directions but it took him another 30mins to find us and then they had the hard job getting the poor lady into it. Frankly it was a complete fiasco, hence me not getting home till 10.15pm!!
I'm dreading next time
