Hospital launches new transport service to assist patients and visitors

A new assistance buggy has been introduced at Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital to help assist patients and visitors who are less able to walk around the site.

The idea came about after there were complaints about the terrain of the hospital having hills that were too steep, making it hard for those with limited mobility to get from the car park to the main building.

Driven by trained volunteers, the six-seater buggy will take a circular route from the main car park, up to the Emerson Unit, through to the main entrance and back.

Together with the Patients and Carers Forum, the QEH Trust went through various planning stages – making sure to walk the route with the estates and facilities and volunteer services teams for a fresh pair of eyes and to provide suggestions on how the service could best benefit its users.

Paul Brooks, director of estates and facilities at the hospital, said: “We’re proud to launch our new car park buggy here at Team QEH. This is something I’ve seen to be effective at other hospitals and it’s great we’ve been able to listen to patient feedback to take this project forward on our site.

“As with all new services we will review and extend our buggy offering where needed as we gather feedback from our visitors on how useful they find it. Our volunteer drivers will have forms so you can give feedback, or please scan the QR code in the buggy.

“We hope this will prove to be a useful service for many of our patients and visitors.”

Currently, there is no formal timetable for the buggy. However, it will run Monday-Friday, 9am until noon so the hospital staff can get an idea of how much it is used.

Joanne Rowe, volunteer services manager, said: “I’d like to thank our five volunteers for agreeing to support this new initiative at the QEH.

“It’s certainly going to be a fantastic resource for visitors to the site and our fully trained volunteers are excited to get started. If you’d be interested in volunteering for us, either as a buggy driver or in one of our many other roles, please do get in touch.”

Contact details are 01553 214687 or volunteerapplications@qehkl.nhs.uk by email.