I HAVE been perturbed to read of cancelled journeys by the Scottish Ambulance Service’s Patient Transport Service – and the reduction in patient transport requests to Lanarkshire Cancer Care Trust (LCCT), the volunteer driver service (“Outcry as cancer patients miss out on free transport to hospital”, The Herald, August 14).

Even more disturbing is the response by the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) which implies that the service by LCCT is in some way not good enough.

I was the first co-ordinator of the trust at its inception in the mid 1990s, when two smaller charities amalgamated, one based in East Kilbride which served South Lanarkshire, and one in Wishaw which served North Lanarkshire.

The main reason for the trust’s existence was to alleviate the transport problems of cancer patients living within the NHS Lanarkshire area. Many people found it distressing to have to be ready early in the morning, be uplifted then taken "round the houses” to pick up other patients, then to go to various hospitals dropping off patients – and often missing their “slot” on the radiography machine. It was not unknown for patients to be “abandoned” on their way home. I recorded it all – and reported all incidents monthly to both the SAS and to the director of NHS Lanarkshire.

The patient transport problems experienced by many patients were acceptable perhaps if one had a “one-off” appointment, but usually cancer patients have to attend radiography appointments every day for weeks.

We heard of nausea, incontinence problems and similar. Bad enough to be diagnosed with cancer, even worse to be embarrassed with other symptoms in front of other people.

The relief felt by such patients was enormous when LCCT took over, when they were picked up at a pre-arranged time, usually only with our voluntary driver, taken direct to their appointments – and taken home immediately after with the driver who had waited for them.

Of course LCCT did not – and does not – take patients whose symptoms were so severe that they necessitated an ambulance. Many hundreds of people in Lanarkshire have been delighted with the personal, friendly service they received, often remaining friends with “their” regular driver for years.

At one time around 50 per cent of our transport requests came from the Macmillan nurses. They do not make such requests now as ambulance transport has already been arranged by the time Macmillan is involved. They seemingly did not know that LCCT were no longer being asked for help.

Hospital staff at all levels praised – and recommended – the service to patients.

I often had patients crying with relief at the improvement in their situation. How dare the ambulance service try to destroy this wonderful relationship?

Elspeth Russell,

8 Bent Road, Hamilton.

I NOTE your article about the Lanarkshire Cancer Care Trust (LCCT) and would suggest that the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) is being a wee bit disingenuous in its response. I have a relative who has used the excellent service provided by LCCT on numerous occasions. She is picked up at home in Lanarkshire by a volunteer driver and taken direct to the Beatson at Gartnavel in Glasgow, a journey which quite frankly would be impossible by public transport. The driver waits at the hospital but has to go through the hassle of finding a parking space as the spaces previously allocated exclusively to the LCCT has since been cancelled. I wonder where the influence for that came from? Once treatment is complete, she will phone the volunteer driver who picks her up at the entrance and takes her directly home. The process takes a matter of hours with actual travelling kept to a minimum.

The alternative is to utilise the service provided by the Scottish Ambulance Service. My understanding of that service is that if there is a seat available on the ambulance bus, she will eventually be picked up at home. The bus has to travel around Lanarkshire in order to uplift all the other patients and then makes its way to Glasgow. It’s a wee bit like the service provided when you go on holiday and are picked up by the tour operator’s bus which then does a tour of the area. Exactly the same situation applies on the way back. The bus has to wait until all the patients are finished treatment before making the return journey. Hence the length of day for an ill and anxious patient can be from around 8am to 6pm irrespective of the time their treatment actually takes.

This is not intended to denigrate the service provided by SAS. But it is on occasion under pressure and the service provided by volunteers of the calibre of the LCCT should not just be dismissed out of hand. It can be invaluable to vulnerable and anxious patients who have other things on their minds.

Campbell Thomson,

Anstruther Court, Law, Carluke.