The key facts

  • 83-year-old Charles Swift from Borth (Ceredigion) drove about 140 miles there and back to Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest for cardiac tests
  • 83-year-old Charles Swift from Borth (Ceredigion) drove around 140 miles there and back to Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest for cardiac tests
  • WAST refused transport after learning he had a car; it later admitted the refusal was a mistake and changed its call-handling procedures
  • Community transport service Dolen Teifi received 145 calls in two months after hospital transport cancellations and was able to help in roughly a third of cases
  • In two months, the Dolen Teifi community transport service received 145 calls following the cancellation of hospital transport and was able to help in roughly a third of cases

A four-hour journey for a medical appointment

Charles Swift, an 83-year-old resident of Borth in Ceredigion who has survived two heart attacks and treatment for three types of cancer, was referred in August for cardiac tests at Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest (Pembrokeshire) — 70 miles from his home. Having been refused non-emergency patient transport, he drove there and back in his own car, spending more than four hours, and said he felt 'exhausted'. This is reported by BBC Wales.

Refused because he owned a car

When Swift contacted the Welsh Ambulance Service (WAST) for non-emergency transport, the call handler refused him after he mentioned that he owned a car. A similar question — whether he could walk, climb stairs and whether he had a car — was also asked during a call to the 'hospital taxi'; after hearing three 'yes' answers, he was told: 'Then you'll have to use it.' 'I don't understand what difference it makes whether you have a car or not. I am 83 years old,' the pensioner said. Public transport was not an option for him either: the train journey from Borth to Haverfordwest takes at least three and a half hours one way.

The service admitted the mistake but speaks of growing pressure

After journalists got in touch, WAST listened to the call recording. Deputy Director of Operations Mark Harris admitted that with fuller information, transport would not have been refused: 'We have changed our processes and trained the call-handling team — when Mr Swift calls again, he will get a different answer.' At the same time, he noted that demand for transport and distances are growing, forcing the service to cancel trips: 'there are days when there is more work than our vehicles can handle,' and the service is 'in the middle of a significant improvement programme.'

Rural patients and the strain on volunteers

Under Hywel Dda health board rules, patients are usually expected to arrange their own journeys to hospital; non-emergency ambulance transport is free but available only under certain criteria — for example, regular dialysis or cancer treatment, a need for a stretcher, oxygen, or travel in one's own wheelchair. Ceredigion councillors are calling for improvements to hospital transport in rural areas: councillor Hugh Hughes notes that services are 'migrating south' away from the local Bronglais Hospital, while Swift himself, after his first journey, was 'in despair' and cancelled one of his appointments after learning on the Friday that his transport for the Monday had been cancelled.

A charity service fills part of the gap

The community transport service Dolen Teifi from Llandysul — 42 vehicles and 160 volunteer drivers in Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire — makes around 50 hospital trips a week and charges an average of 57 pence per mile, since non-emergency ambulance transport is free while costs still have to be covered. Manager Rod Bowen said that over the past two months the service has received 145 calls from people whose hospital transport was cancelled on the eve of their appointment, and was able to help in roughly a third of cases. He also noted that more and more patients are travelling 'past the doors of their main hospital' to a hospital 40–50 miles away, and that older people do not feel confident driving in unfamiliar places. Hywel Dda health board chief operating officer Andrew Carruthers said the board is working with WAST and will raise the question of how to improve transport options for patients.

A photo of an older man - grey hair and glasses. He's sitting on a cream coloured sofa and is wearing a grey polo top
Image caption,

Charles Swift says he was 'exhausted' after driving for more than four hours to go to hospital

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Image caption,

Councillor Hugh Hughes says rural patients are facing longer journeys to get to hospital appointments

A photo of a white two storey building with two windows in the upper floor and three silver-coloured, electric minibuses parked outside.
Image caption,

Community transport service Dolen Teifi is taking an increasing number of people to hospital appointments

A photo of a man with a moustache wearing a dark blue bodywarmer. He's sitting in an office with his back to a desk which has a computer monitor and laptop on it.
Image caption,

Dolen Teifi manager Rod Bowen says older people are not comfortable driving themselves to hospitals in 'unfamiliar territory'

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