JIM Slavin's letter (November 2) regarding the closure of the cancer treatment unit at Stobhill and the difficulties of patients from the north side of Glasgow having to travel to the Beatson Unit at Gartnavel chimed with an issue very close to my heart.
Patients have to travel long and awkward journeys to reach the Beatson Unit for their chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Not only from Kirkintilloch, but from the Falkirk area, the Alloa area, Crianlarich and even Mr Slavin’s home territory around the Bo’ness area. I firmly and passionately believe that if you live in areas such as these and the only place you can go for cancer therapies is the Beatson in Glasgow or the Western General in Edinburgh then getting you there should be part of the overall care package. Patients who are stressed, tired and/or nauseous should not have to deal with the vagaries and expense of public transport or the stresses of long-distance driving and few parking places in addition to their illness.
Until such times as this Utopian ideal arrives, the limited service provided by the Patient Transport Service of Scottish Ambulance must be supplemented by local charities such as the Driving Force at Bonnybridge and Denny, and the soon-to-be Meadowbank Car4U here in the Upper and Lower Braes area of Falkirk. No doubt there are others unknown to me. Both of these local charities, run entirely by volunteers, provide and will provide a free transport service for cancer patients having to travel for their cancer treatments.
Anne McDonald.
Chair, Meadowbank Car4U, 6 Breadalbane Place, Polmont, Falkirk.
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