I am a simple soul. I expect my elected MP to vote to represent their constitutents’ views. Nuff said about this week’s performance in Parliament; instead have decided to make ‘use’ of him. When, yet again hospital transport ‘forgets’ me, I complain. But this time I very visibly Copy my MP. : hoping that CC-ing him might get a quick and sensible response. It did. Usual time-wasting practice is to send an acknowledgement; a week later you receive a bland “your query” has been passed to someone else”. If you are lucky, and they haven’t been told to ‘lose’ it, two months later you receive 3 pages of platitudes which tell you nothing.
I don’t like parading disabilities, but I more than qualify for hospital transport, and without it, this area is a transport desert. I think a bus was last seen in the village over five years ago. However, waits of up to 5 hours for transport have become the norm. Yesterday, when I didn’t even make my appointment at the John Radcliffe and phoned to find out what’s happend, without an apology I am told “you have been unbooked”. And no-one has come back with a reason why. I was depending on that Scan.
So it’s back to the end of the queue to wait for another appointment.
Look on the bright side: at least I won’t have hours to wait for the return journey. Enough time to discover the vending machines in Outpatients don’t seem to be making much money for Carillion. Judging by the quality of their products (sawdust seems a major ingredient) it’s not surprising they are in financial trouble.
CC-ing my MP seems to have done the trick. I get an immediate response. The Ambulance service has given me “a personal assurance that I will be monitoring your next bookings ” and a mobile number to call. I have two appointments next week. Wish me luck. We shall see!