Vouchers to help patients get to hospital

By ALISON BROWN in Rotorua
Travel vouchers are being offered to patients needing help getting to and from Rotorua and Taupo hospitals.

The voucher system, due to take effect from today, will complement an existing shuttle service run by Taupo volunteers.

The vouchers will be provided to patients needing to visit specialists at either hospital, as long as they are aged under 16 or hold a Community Services Card.

They can be used on an existing bus service, called the Connection Bus, which travels between Taupo and Rotorua.

Run by Taupo-based company Paradise Tours, the bus leaves from the Taupo Information Centre three times a day, arriving at Tourism Rotorua and Rotorua Hospital's outpatient department. It returns to the information centre throughout the day, ensuring patients from Rotorua can also visit Taupo specialists.

Any Turangi patients eligible for free travel to Rotorua Hospital would have to make their own way to Taupo first.

The need for further transport connecting the two hospitals was one of the recommendations to come out of the review into Taupo's health services.

It was hoped the board could run its own shuttle bus between the two centres but further investigation revealed the costs were too high.

Instead, patients referred to specialists at either hospital who meet the criteria for assistance will be asked if they need help with transport. The vouchers entitling them to free travel will then be sent with a letter confirming their specialist appointment.

Vouchers will also be available through outpatient departments at both hospitals, where staff are being trained to administer them.

A part-time administrative position is also being set up, to eventually take over the management of requests for travel and accommodation assistance.

The board's referred services manager, Eugene Berryman-Kamp said he hoped the vouchers would mean more patients would access hospital services and attend their specialist appointments.

Taupo Volunteer Transport Group spokeswoman Barbara Forbes said she expected the new bus service would complement the service provided by the volunteers, who were all retired.

Unlike the bus service, the volunteer group picks up patients from their homes and, if necessary, will wait with them while they attend their clinic appointment, before returning home. The group also transports people to Waikato Hospital and ACC patients needing treatment at Rotorua's QE Health.

Volunteers have their travel expenses paid for by the health board and transport an average of 10 people every week. Most are elderly people or mothers with young children.

"There's a lot of poorer people in Taupo who are on benefits who can't afford the travel costs themselves," Mrs Forbes said.