Hospital shuttle bus service call after pensioner's three-hour wait for transport home
A Market Drayton woman has spoken of her ordeal getting home from Telford's hospital and said more needs to be done to bolster public transport in rural areas.
Mary Williams said the lack of public transport to and from the town makes life "miserable" for residents living in the most rural and isolated parts of Shropshire.
It comes after Ms Williams spent three hours waiting at the Princess Royal Hospital on Monday, August 7 for a ride home after her appointment to have a heart monitor fitted.
She said she was picked up in the morning by non-emergency patient transport and was asked to wait to be called by the driver for the return journey, but there was a delay.
Ms Williams said that if there was a direct bus link to key places such as the county's hospitals, the stress of worrying about how she was going to get home would not have been necessary.
Thankfully, she said, a "kind" driver in a hospital ambulance gave her a ride home.
However, she was faced with the same dilemma this week when she was asked to bring the heart monitor back to the hospital.
"With a partially sighted husband unable to help and no family around, I have had to resort to posting back the monitor and cursing the way rural communities are neglected," Ms Williams said.
"I don't need a bus pass, though I'm old, just a reasonably-priced bus service. I'm not alone."
As it stands, a journey via public transport from Market Drayton to the Princess Royal Hospital would take approximately three hours and 36 minutes for a round-trip.
