We were approached this week by a sister in charge of an Orthopaedic Ward of a major Dublin Hospital in connection with a patient who had Hip Surgery and was returning to her home in rural Ireland for rehabilitation and recuperation following the surgery.
The patient, who was a mature lady was definitely set on re-gaining some independence in living and expressed the view that she didn’t want, or need, to travel back to her rural home town by ambulance. She was adamant that she could manage in a wheelchair taxi instead of a private ambulance.
Her family were all professional people, some living abroad and some in Ireland, were unable to take time off to accompany her on her transfer back closer to home.
We were asked if we could bring this elderly lady to a local rural nursing home and to provide carer cover for the journey back.We enquired about the condition of this lady and her ability to either sit normally or in a wheelchair for the duration of the 2 hour trip back to her locality and the sister in charge confirmed that she could do so comfortabl
y provided a carer was present to assist her with personal requirements during the journey. We agreed to provide a driver, carer and wheelchair accessible vehicle for the transfer.
On the day of the transfer we arrived at the agreed time and after being introduced to our passenger we brought her and her belonging down to the awaiting CareCab. On this occasion we used our own wheelchair for the transfer, as the passenger didn’t have hers with her. We set off northward towards our passenger’s hometown and arrived some two hours later with fuss. (Our passenger did need to use a lavatory on route and we stopped at a hotel to facilitate this, our female carer accompanying and assisting her throughout.)
Our elderly lady arrived safely and happily at her new temporary home and we updated her Nurse and carers of her transfer details.
Not only can CareCabs offer a less fussy and scary service for patients like the one described but we are also a less expensive alternative to a Private Ambulance for such patients.
