Bexhill patient misses hospital appointment as transport fails to arrive

Thirugnanam Sureshan, of Buckhurst Road, Bexhill, had patient transport booked for him last Thursday (June 30) to take him to St Thomas’ Hospital.

He was due to attend a consultation about gastric bypass surgery but was unable to go due to the transport failing to arrive.

It is the second time Mr Sureshan has been unable to keep the appointment because of patient transport problems.

His first consultation was on April 12 and it had to be delayed by three months.

Mr Sureshan said: “They were supposed to take me to the hospital at 1pm on Thursday but didn’t turn up.

“I rang the transport company up and was waiting on the phone for 25 minutes before being told they had no transport to take me to London.

“This is the second time Coperforma has let me down. Last Wednesday (June 29) I received a letter from the CEO of Coperforma, saying 85 per cent of patients were happy with the service and apologised for the last delay.

“Because the transport didn’t turn up in April I had to reschedule the appointment to this month. Now I have to wait until September 1.”

Coperforma took over the running of patient transport services on April 1.

Mr Sureshan has been using the patient transport services, which were previously provided by South East Coast Ambulance Services (SECAmb), for nearly seven years.

Since Coperforma took over the contract, patients have complained about numerous incidents of crews either showing up late or not turning up at all.

Both the doctors who commissioned the service and bosses at Coperforma have already appeared before Sussex MPs in Parliament and now the East Sussex Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) has decided to step in, discussing the contract at a meeting last Thursday.

Coperforma has previously apologised ‘unreservedly’ to all patients and clinical staff affected by the problems.

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1) Make our website your homepage at www.bexhillobserver.net/

2) Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/bexhillobserver

3) Follow us on Twitter @BexhillObs

4) Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!

The Bexhill Observer - always the first with your local news.

Be part of it.