A couple have suffered a nightmare experience waiting for hospital patient transport that never turned up.
Linda and Terry Allen live in Pangbourne and visit hospitals for Mr Allen’s care after he suffered a stroke.
After initial care at A&E at the Royal Berkshire Hospital on October 24, he was in recovery at Prospect Park Hospital in West Reading.
The couple had a nightmare when they were ‘left stranded’ at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.
Mr Allen was meant to be transported back to Prospect Park by the EMED Group, which provides non-emergency patient transport, among other services.
But the patient transport van they were expecting to take them back never arrived.
Mrs Allen said: “I’ve got no complaints from John Radcliffe, they even offered us a bed – it’s this wretched transport, they left us stranded.
“They got us there no problem, a woman drove us, she was great.
“But after treatment, it all went wrong. We were meant to be picked up about 2pm, but no one came.
“By 3pm, the head of the vascular department said I’m going to ring them, but we couldn’t get through to them.
“Then a staff nurse said they are not coming. I couldn’t believe it. We were finally told they wouldn’t be coming at 9pm.
“In the end, my son-in-law from Tilehurst and my daughter had to rescue him.
“My daughter even offered to pick us up earlier, but I didn’t feel I could accept that help, we believed they were going to come. We dropped Terry off at midnight, I got so tired my daughter drove me home.
“I got back about 12.30am and that was our day, I’ve never known anything like it. It was all booked with them [EMED Group].”
Mrs Allen spoke with the Local Democracy Reporting Service the day after the ordeal.
She said: “I feel weak and wobbly, it’s unforgivable, there’s no reason, it was all unnecessary, the dear hospital staff kept trying to track the driver, they kept fobbing them off.
“The people at Prospect Park were devastated.
“This needs airing, it’s dreadful. You feel all shook up, we’re tired with it all.”
The nightmare journey occurred on Tuesday, November 1,1, and Mrs Allen has claimed it has happened again.
The couple are engaging with a complaints process.
A spokesperson for EMED Group said: “We note the concerns raised and will contact the patient directly to discuss these with him.
“The relevant patient experience manager will investigate what happened on the day and we’ll share the outcome with the patient once that’s complete.”
Mrs Allen claimed she had further problems with transport for an appointment at Townlands Memorial Hospital in Henley on Thursday, December 12.
She said: “They just do not turn up, the hospitals are brilliant.
“The issue is still going on; it is very exhausting. Nothing happens, and some of the people they have on the phone are so rude.
“They seem to be taking on too many people.
“I felt distraught with it, I have no confidence, I’m dreading it.”
The incidents were covered in an ITV Meridian broadcast on Thursday, December 18.
