Travelling to radiotherapy?

[Butterfly318]

Evening Bumblegirl

So glad your Mum has a plan for the Radiotherapy with lots of offers to get her there.

Sounds like she's got some great support.  Take Care  Gilly x

[bumblegirl]

Hello. Thank you so much for replying. Sorry I haven't answered. My mum spoke to someone at the hospital about transport and they said there isn't a problem with transport to the town she's going to. They said there may be a wait sometimes but my mum said she doesn't mind that. My mums boyfriend drives as does mine and so does my best friend so they said they will all help. My mum has also told her brother now and he said he will take her there any time she needs him too. Stressymessy I think that's so awful that it took someone collapsing for them to give him transport! I think I'm just doing what any daughter would do 🙂 sorry for lack of paragraphs I'm on my phone. Again thank you all for replying and hope you are all doing well xxx

[Butterfly318]

Hi there Bumblegirl.

I have noticed a few posts from you, your Mum is one lucky lady to have you supporting her.

Regarding transport, as others have said it very much depends on individual circumstances and different areas.   I live only 10mins drive from Christie Satelite Centre where i had rads and they have a small car park just for use by rads patients  (they give you a code).  Other people at the time were using various transport options.

1) Mile for Smiles - Volunteer driver services  (arranged by local volunteer bureau) where you pay petrol only to volunteer drivers.  Users have to register.

2) Ambulance arranged using a reference from GP. (This can mean a lot of wating about.)

3) Transport service arranged with support from Macmillan Nurse who can also apply for grants for specific needs.  (I guess this was another volunteer service).

Wishing your Mum well in her treatment.  Take Care Gilly x   

[stressy_messy]

 My treatment was in 2008 and hospital transport was only offered for certain situations. I was lucky with the chemo as OH took me for that  but for rads I had to get 3 busses each way for 6 weeks of rads. The cost of the weekly bus pass was about £13 then but is quite a bit more now. I didn't mind getting the bus except for the cost of course lol. My friends OH is having treatment for stomach cancer and had to make his own way to hospital for chemo/rads until he collapsed on the train and now gets hospital transport. Perhaps it depends on the area. I had my treatment at the Marsden in Sutton. All the bestX

[Magical_Moon]

Hello Bumble,
I had radiotherapy at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre very recently (December 2013). Out-patients had the option of using their own transport or using the hospital's transport.
My breast consultant and oncologist were honest and told me that using my own transport would avoid long waits for hospital transport.
Every day when I went for my treatment I always saw out-patients waiting to be taken home by ambulance. Most of the time they had been waiting over 2 hours even 3 and many were elderly.
Travelling every day for radiotherapy does get tiring and very long waits do not help.
I was thankful I could drive myself to the hospital so I could get home as quickly as possible.
Out-patients using their cars were given a parking pass to enable free car parking.
Does your mum have any friends that could drive her to the hospital?
I'm sure she would want to avoid excessive waiting times.
You need to find out the current out-patient transport policy at your designated hospital rather than what they had in place a number of years ago.
All the best,
M

[bumblegirl]

Hello all. My Mum is having a lumpectomy on the 22nd and then about 6 weeks later she will have radiotherapy for about 5 weeks I think. The only thing is its a few towns away from us and my Mum is worrying how she will get there. Did any one else have this worry? Will hospital transport be provided for this? Xx