I understand that the issue surrounding elderly transportation to hospital is affecting ever more people as our society ages, and I would like to assure my constituents that there are cross-governmental efforts being made to ensure elderly and frail people are able to gain access to suitable transport to hospitals. I am encouraged to know that the Department of Health is aware of these issues, and runs a number of schemes to assist patients with non-emergency hospital transport.
Especially in relation to local services at the Alex, I am aware that some people are eligible for non-emergency patient transport services. These services provide free transport to and from hospital for people whose condition means they need additional medical support during their journey.
The Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme was set up to help those patients who require assistance with their travel costs to non-emergency medical appointments. Under this scheme, eligible patients (and sometimes carers) are reimbursed for costs incurred in travelling to appointments at non-primary medical and dental services. Patients who are not in receipt of a qualifying benefit but are on a low income may be eligible for assistance through the NHS Low Income Scheme, so I suggest that you ask the PALS team at the Alex or Trust to find out more.
Recently, due to transportation issues following centralisation of certain local healthcare services, the Department of Transport has provided funding towards a new community transport scheme in Worcestershire. There is also a Community Minibus Fund in England and Wales which has a budget of £2 million, available for charities and community groups to provide minibus journeys for elderly residents, amongst others, to help them reach medical services and local amenities.
