Pershore mum says she was let down twice in a week by Patient Transport Service

Emma Biggam of Apple Tree Road, Pershore says the Patient Transport Service, run by the West Midlands Ambulance Service, let her down twice in the same week, the second time causing her to miss a vital appointment to get her wheelchair adjusted.

However, the ambulance service disputes that this missed appointment was its fault and, while it has apologised for the delay in picking Miss Biggam up from hospital, contests her account of how long she waited.

The initial delay followed an ophthalmology appointment at Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester on Monday, May 16.

Ms Biggam, who suffers from a brain tumour, fibromyalgia and ME, says she waited three hours in the hospital reception to be picked up and taken home, although the ambulance service claims the delay was just over two hours (two hours and three minutes).

The service said she was due to be picked up at 11am. The crew arrived at 12.59pm and the ambulance picked her up at 1.03pm.

Ms Biggam, 43, who is prescribed morphine and morphine patches for the pain, said: “They kept on telling me '10 minutes, 10 minutes, 10 minutes’. I was in agony. I hadn’t had my medication. Fibromyalgia feels like barbed wire all over your body.”

An ambulance service spokesman said the trust had apologised for this delay and had accepted it was 'not good enough', attributing the delay to a crash on the M5.

He also said the trust had offered to speak to her that evening about what happened but she chose not to accept that offer.

The second delay happened on Thursday, May 19 when the Patient Transport Service was due to take her to an appointment at the Worcestershire Wheelchair Service in Crown Lane, Wychbold.

She claims the ambulance was due to arrive at her home at 10.45am – 15 minutes after she was due at her appointment.

Ms Biggam claims she lost her slot because the ambulance was late again. But the ambulance trust strongly disputes this, saying that, although it was running late, staff called Ms Biggam as a courtesy and stressed that she would not have to cancel her appointment.

Ms Biggam says the next appointment she is able to attend will be on June 6.

She said: “That means I can’t go out for a month and am effectively house-bound. I can’t sit in my wheelchair for more than an hour.”

She says the appointment was important because it involved looking into the possibility of having her motorised wheelchair modified.

She says it is too big for her, she needs more support for her head and sides and struggles to sit upright in the chair.

Ms Biggam, who intends to lodge a formal complaint, said: “I’m angry about it and gutted. I don’t think it’s appropriate. I have been waiting six weeks for the adaption.

"Now I have to wait another month for an appointment and two to three weeks extra on top of that for the adaption.

“I just want them to be honest and say sorry.

"Why can’t they just say ‘we’re late, we’re not going to be with you for an hour’ and say sorry instead of keeping patients hanging on? Why keep someone waiting who is in pain and disabled?”

A spokesman said the ambulance was only running 15 minutes late and her appointment at the Worcestershire Wheelchair Service in Crown Lane, Wychbold was secure until she called them and they decided to cancel the appointment, based on the information she gave them in that conversation.

The ambulance service also said she was offered two further, earlier appointments at Wychbold (before June 6) but she turned them down.

Ms Biggam said the reason she could not take either of these appointments at Wychbold was because they clashed with two other hospital appointments, one at Cheltenham and another at Worcester.

A spokesman for the West Midlands Ambulance Service said in relation to the late pick-up after the hospital appointment at Worcester: "We would like to apologise to Ms Biggam for the delay in picking her up after appointment on May 17.

"We always endeavour to get to patients on time but a crash on the M5 led to the ambulance due to pick her up being delayed.

"We accept that being just over two hours late is not good enough. A senior manager has tried to speak to her on a number of occasions to apologise in person, but she has so far not been available."

He said in relation to the wheelchair appointment on May 19: "Unfortunately, due to the premises where the previous patient was being taken to not being ready, the ambulance to take Ms Biggam to the Wheelchair Centre was running 15 minutes late.

"Out of courtesy, a senior manager confirmed with the Wheelchair Centre that the short delay would not be a cause for cancelling the appointment and then rang Ms Biggam to confirm the situation and to provide her with a time that the ambulance would arrive.

"Unfortunately, for reasons that we are not aware of, Ms Biggam also phoned the Wheelchair Centre and provided them with alternative information which resulted in them cancelling the appointment.

"It is most unfortunate that two alternative appointments were not convenient to Ms Biggam and that she will have to wait until early June until she can next attend the Wheelchair Centre.

"We are sorry that Ms Biggam feels that we have let her down and we will respond to her as soon as possible."