For those of you that live far from hospitals

How do you manage when you're ill and must attend appointments/procedures?

I'm lucky in that mine is just about 2.5 miles away but still I moan about the taxi prices.

Do you get public transport if it is available or are you fortunate enough to drive, or have some one else drive, you there?

I've heard of people travelling 40 miles to my hospital. Can't be much fun if a procedure is cancelled like mine was yesterday.

Re: For those of you that live far from hospitals

I had to get my ex to drive me to Leicester General on Wednesday. She drove 23 miles to pick me up then a further 13 miles to the hospital.

I had to ask her as it was a diabetic eye test and they warned me that after having the drops in my eyes my vision would be too affected to drive.

All in she did a round trip of 72miles but I did give her money for petrol and buy her lunch.
Shes not a bad old stick really.

Re: For those of you that live far from hospitals

That was good of her.

Re: For those of you that live far from hospitals

My Hospital is about 6 miles from us.

My Diabetic Eye Clinic though is done at a Doctors Surgery or in a Church Hall in my area.

Re: For those of you that live far from hospitals

That was good of her MC.

My husband has the diabetic retinopathy checks once a year and swears he's OK to drive afterwards. Thankfully the hospital is only a couple of miles from home.

Re: For those of you that live far from hospitals

Our general hospital & A&E is not too far away,but we have to get 2 buses to get there, for some appts.I can get hospital transport. Some times we get appts.for a specific condition & have to travel further. The hospital for my cancer treatment is quite a distance away ,but I always get transport there & back

Re: For those of you that live far from hospitals

The hospital is about 3 miles away. There's a bus stop a couple of hundred yards from our house. The bus stopping there goes right into the hospital grounds. If the appointment is for Mrs mart, we'll mostly take the bus but if the weather is nice, we'll walk/wheel (powerchair) to the hospital and back.

If the appointment is for me and I go on my own, I'll walk or cycle there and back. Anything but take a car there. Parking is a right pain.

Re: For those of you that live far from hospitals

I think life is very awkward for people who dont have a car or access to one.
Public transport is quite hit and miss in some areas.
I know this personally as I did go for quite a while without a car and life was difficult to say the least.
My last two cars have both been old bangers but luckily managed to get me about even down to Portsmouth in one case.
I do worry about the day I cannot afford to run an old car anymore as with all my hospital appointments life will be hell.

Re: For those of you that live far from hospitals

My Hospital is about 3 - 4 miles away and requires two buses to get there from where I live, but both services run frequently and it takes only about 35 minutes to get there. As I have a bus pass, it costs me nothing in bus fares.

Re: For those of you that live far from hospitals

We have a small hospital in Thurso but it's only a Nurse led Minor Injuries/Minor ailments place. Anything big and it's off to Raigmore in Inverness just over 100 miles away. You have to even go there to give birth these days as they closed the unit here, there was a right row about it I can tell you.