Elderly patients face travel misery (From Witney Gazette)

Elderly patients face travel misery

3:27pm Monday 6th March 2006 in Witney By Victoria Owen

ELDERLY patients with chest conditions are being forced to travel to Oxford for treatment because community hospital clinics have been shut down.

NHS managers have decided to axe satellite services in Witney, Wantage, and Wallingford, manned by consultants from the Churchill Hospital, Headington, claiming not enough people used them.

But a former patient warned that shutting down the clinics would inconvenience many elderly and infirm people, who would be forced to rely on someone to take them to the Churchill's Oxford Respiratory Unit (ORU) instead.

Former RAF airman William Beacham, 76, of Woodlands Road, Witney, visited Witney Community Hospital's chest clinic after being diagnosed with asthma.

The ex-navigator is now on steroids, and no longer has to see a consultant for his condition.

He said: "I did go to the Churchill once, but found the Witney clinic more convenient. I could effectively walk there. Even if they couldn't walk, most patients could easily get a quick lift there.

"Now it could take almost up to a day to see the consultant. You will have to find someone to drive you into Oxford, then park the car, before waiting for your appointment."

William Beacham

"Now it could take almost up to a day to see the consultant. You will have to find someone to drive you into Oxford, then park the car, before waiting for your appointment.

"I'm still mobile, but some people aren't, and it will be an effort for them to get to Oxford. I know one woman in her 80s, who has oxygen piped into her house, because she finds it difficult to breath. And now she will have to go to Oxford.

"The Government has recently announced that it's putting more consultants out into the community, but then you hear about this kind of thing the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing."

The peripheral chest clinics at community hospitals were operated by the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, and closed in January.

Managers said bringing the service back to the city would only affect about 40 patients, and would actually improve their care.

A trust spokesman said: "Historically, these services have been under-used, and haven't been able to offer the range of services patients need. To improve the way these services are provided for patients, they've been moved to the ORU.

"The decision was taken due to low numbers of patients being referred to these clinics.

"The majority of patients who attended the peripheral clinics also had to attend the ORU as specialist tests can't be carried out at these clinics. By moving the services to the ORU, patients have access to specialist nurses, as well as the consultants, who can offer advice and support. No capacity has been lost."