Hovertravel helps with Isle of Wight medical transport costs

My wife had to travel to Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth for radiotherapy cancer treatment.

It is a well-trodden path with possibly a couple of dozen people travelling for treatment every day.

In order to be able to make use of cheaper, reclaimable travel costs, Hovertravel must be used.

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Those travelling for NHS treatment (and an escort if required for which a statement from a medical professional is necessary) can buy a reduced cost ticket for £11 return.

But here’s the rub. In my wife’s case this involved 15 return journeys over the course of three weeks, so that involves an outlay of £165.

As she needed me to escort her, our Hovertravel outlay was £330.

Yes, this can be reclaimed, but having made the claim on November 25, we were still awaiting even an acknowledgement on December 9.

We are fortunate that we were able to make that payment in the first place.

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Unfortunately, the cost doesn’t end there as the car park we have to use in order to reclaim parking fees required costs of £7 per day or £35 per week to you. That’s a further £105.

I was able to claim this weekly and though there is obviously a delay, I’m pleased to say the council were reasonably quick to reimburse me.

But that shouldn’t detract from the fact that we were required to make payments totalling £435 to attend vital hospital treatment.

Add the fuel costs from Freshwater to Ryde and back and the question should be asked, just how many are finding vital hospital treatment unaffordable?

Just as concerning for us was what happened to customers when Hovertravel was unable to provide a service.

No arrangements were made to transfer customers — fit or otherwise — to the end of Ryde Pier to take the FastCat service.

I think we can all accept that hovercraft travel is susceptible to the sea state, so why are customers expected to walk in strong winds and heavy rain to the end of the second longest pier in the country?

I witnessed severe hardship among some fellow NHS passengers trying to make that journey.

On two occasions we had to use a taxi to reach FastCat services as strong winds and rain make walking up the pier for someone with reduced immune system due to chemotherapy treatment a complete unacceptable nonsense.

So there was another cost which totalled over £14 and cannot be reclaimed. As recommended by Hovertravel, I read their disruption contingency plan.

If anyone responsible from the NHS — or whatever persons are responsible for the decision to send patients via Hovertravel — had bothered to read this plan, it would have been absolutely obvious that as far as the customer is concerned it is not fit for purpose.

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I contacted Hovertravel with my concerns and to their great credit I received correspondence from the managing director, Neil Chapman, who, having had my concerns brought to his attention, made immediate changes to the benefit of NHS and Hover Care customers which will safely transfer them to FastCat services when necessary.

The changes were implemented within days which tells me that Hovertravel had not realised the hardships being caused and had a real desire to change that.

It also tells me that little or no consideration has been given to NHS patients by the persons responsible for the policy of closure and transfer of NHS treatments.