North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust supports Hartlepool-based travel study to help reduce costly missed appointments
Health volunteers have been helping hospital bosses to understand difficulties patients face travelling between Hartlepool and North Tees hospitals.
Volunteers spent two days over August simulating getting from Hartlepool to the University Hospital of North Tees for mock appointments.
It was part of a project to help hospital managers understand the barriers to care patients may face and help reduce missed appointments.
The project was carried out in collaboration with the Hartlepool Transport User Forum, Healthwatch Hartlepool, Hartlepool Community Trust, Hartlepool Carers with support from North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust.
Dawn Robinson, Hartlepool Community Trust engagement worker and young persons social prescriber capacity builder, said: “We’ve been working with volunteers over two days to understand the challenges for patients who are coming from Hartlepool to get to an appointment in North Tees in decent time.
“We know it isn’t always an easy prospect for those without a vehicle and having to navigate public transport.
"Sometimes it is also about understanding how we make sure that patients know all the different transport options available as for example, not everyone is aware of the hospital shuttle bus or hospital volunteer drivers.”
Dawn added: “Our willing volunteers have been brilliant, they were given a mock appointment time at the University Hospital of North Tees and a logbook to track their route from Hartlepool.”
Hartlepool MP Jonathan Brash was one of the volunteers and took just under two hours to get from his front door to North Tees hospital.
Dawn said: “We hope that the project will help us to understand the current transport offer and inform bus companies, the hospital and others so that we can help Hartlepool patients to get to their appointments.”
She said data from the project and an earlier, similar report done by Healthwatch in 2013, will help improve the trust’s understanding of issues in accessing care for patients living in Hartlepool and will be shared with bus companies, Tees Flex and the hospital.
Each missed outpatient appointment can cost the trust £160 per patient. Tobi Daniels, personalised care coordinator at the trust, said: “It’s important that we can look at ways of reducing wasted appointments and supporting patients access to care.”