South West patient transport group 'at breaking point'

Eleanor Jeffery said she relies on volunteer drivers such as Les Chinyou to go to appointments

A voluntary organisation that drives patients to hospitals has warned it is "at breaking point" because of high demand.

Shaftesbury Car Link said it was having to make up for a failing NHS patient transport service.

Last month, the BBC reported claims that calls to a patient transport helpline in the West were being abandoned due to long waits.

NHS South Central & West CSU has apologised again for the situation.

Shaftesbury Car Link, which is run by volunteers, has contacted the BBC to warn it was struggling to cope with the extra demand caused by problems with the NHS service.

June Hull, who has been an unpaid director of Shaftesbury Car Link for five years, said it was "at breaking point" and the NHS service was leaving patients "stranded".

"It is soul-destroying when we are so busy that we can't help everyone," she said.

The not-for-profit social enterprise has about 1,200 clients which it transports to hospitals and GP practices across 30 square miles of Wiltshire, North Dorset and Somerset.

Health Correspondent Matthew Hill talks to whistle-blower

Last month the BBC spoke to a whistleblower who said hundreds of calls to an NHS patient transport helpline were being abandoned due to long waits.

The NHS service arranges lifts for vulnerable patients to non-urgent medical appointments across the South West.

The call handler told the BBC people were often "in tears" over the delays and one patient wet himself because his partner who cares for him did not want to give up her place in the phone queue.

Following our broadcast I was contacted by a former manager at the NHS service, who wants to remain anonymous, who told me: "It's poorly managed. There is no senior support for these guys who are working from home."

The ex-manager said there were a lot of staff off sick and "poor performance was just accepted".

'Stuck without volunteers'

Shaftesbury Car Link's clients include Eleanor Jeffery, 80, from Shaftesbury, who has regular podiatry appointments. She relies on volunteer driver Les Chinyou as she has problems walking.

"Without this I would be stuck where I am. I would just have to rely on local taxis. Car Link are amazing," she said.

June Hull is a co-director of Shaftesbury Car Link

Mrs Hull, 63, said she had noticed the NHS patient transport service was letting increasing numbers of patients down, leaving her drivers to pick up the pieces.

Giving one example, she said: "A lady who lives locally with her son [who is] is severely disabled was trying to get transport for him to go to hospital .

"She tried to phone patient transport services, couldn't get through on the phone and phoned me in tears saying 'what do I do?'"

Mrs Hull said "quite often" people who used the NHS transport service were not picked up.

"They are taken off early in the morning and have to sit around in hospital for six hours waiting for transport back."

She said it meant the volunteers were "here there and everywhere".

A spokesperson from NHS South Central & West CSU said :"We are sorry to anyone who has been affected by delays to booking transport for routine hospital appointments.

"We're aware of the situation and we've been working with all the other NHS organisations involved across the South West to develop and implement an improvement plan for this patient transport booking service that's provided for routine, non-urgent hospital appointments."

June and her husband Martin will be taking their first holiday in five years in September.

They said unless they got more volunteers like Les they feared some of the most vulnerable patients would not be able to get to hospital.