Vulnerable patients were left to beg at a church door for money to get home from hospital, an investigation by a Blackpool charity has found.
Other patients have been left to walk home in their slippers, while one woman is said to have been pushed home in a wheelchair with a wheel missing. The revelations have been made in a podcast broadcast this month (April) by the Blackpool Poverty Truth Commission, which operates under the umbrella of Blackpool charity Empowerment.
An investigation into hospital transport found some patients had been left with no means to get home after being discharged from Blackpool Victoria Hospital. The hospital said it does have a wide range of services to ensure people can get home safely, but has since made “a number of changes” to the way it supports vulnerable patients.
Gillian Oliver, co-ordinator for the Blackpool Poverty Truth Commission, said: “Our job on the Poverty Truth project is to give the town’s most hard-pressed residents a voice. Our mantra is ‘nothing about us – without us – is for us’.
“In this case over nine months we went from the door of A&E to the boardroom of Victoria Hospital. We found creaking public services and heroic staff daring to speak up. We were glad to get the interest of the senior leaders and we hope for better protection for Blackpool’s poorest patients.”
Podcast The Other Side of Blackpool quoted a security worker from A&E and a homeless link worker as both saying they had witnessed serious shortfalls in patient transport. These included people left “with no means to get home”, and instances where patients were separated from their carers because while the patient might be given the bus fare home, the carer received no help.
A vicar who contacted the commission said: “People would knock on his vestry door asking for the bus fare to Fleetwood or walking into Blackpool with their slippers on.”
Chris, a worker with the homeless, said after finding people safe accommodation to go to following their discharge, he would struggle to get them the transport they needed, reports LancsLive. However, the hospital says services are in place to ensure patients can get help where necessary to get home including access to non-emergency ambulances and pre-paid bus tickets.
Janet Barnsley, Executive Director of Integrated Care at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals, said: “We would like to thank the Poverty Truth Commission charity for meeting with us last year. We held very productive discussions as a result of which we have made a number of changes to the way we support our patients, particularly the most vulnerable, to get home safely and reliably.
“Where patients need transport for clinical reasons we provide a range of services including the patient transport services provided by North West Ambulance Service and privately-commissioned ambulances.
“The Trust works closely with charities including Age UK and the Red Cross to support patients with transportation and also provides a pre-paid bus ticket where it may be required. Out-of-hours the Trust can also pre-book taxis for patients who have a requirement for transportation.
“Decisions can be made on a case-by-case basis where necessary but there has never been a formal budget for providing taxi transport – where vulnerable patients require taxis we have arranged them and this remains the case.
“We are always working hard to ensure our patients receive caring, safe and respectful treatment and will continue to review and improve our services wherever this is required.”
