A charity has revealed plans to launch a transport service to help dialysis patients across Moray.
St John Scotland’s will help more people living with chronic kidney disease get free transport to Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin for dialysis.
The service will run six days a week.
It is being run in collaboration with NHS Grampian and is expected to begin in the coming months.
Linda Willows, senior charge nurse for the dialysis unit at Dr Gray’s Hospital said: “We’re pleased to be welcoming the St John Scotland team to Moray to support the transport service for renal dialysis patients.
“We have a great team at the hospital and volunteers play an important part in that. We would absolutely encourage anyone who is interested in becoming a volunteer driver to get in touch with St John Scotland.”
About 18 St John Scotland volunteers will use their own cars to provide door-to-door transport between a patient’s home and the hospital.
Volunteers will be provided with mileage and, where necessary, a meals allowance.
‘We’re really pleased to be able to start this service in Moray for local patients’
Clifford Eastmond, St John Scotland’s local lead volunteer for public access defibrillators and patient transport, said he is pleased to see their transport service expanding across the north-east.
“We’re really pleased to be able to start this service in Moray for local patients,” he said. “We want to thank those volunteers who we hope will offer to join us as volunteer drivers and co-ordinators of this service by offering their time to make this a success.
“As a charity, we’re committed to helping people in our local area, and we hope this new service, alongside our work with communities to provide CPR training and public access defibrillators, will help Aberdeen and the north-east be a healthier place to live.”
Moray MSP Richard Lochhead welcomed the news, and said the free transport will make a “big difference” to those living with chronic kidney disease.
He said: “Having met with local dialysis patients in the past I know how tough it can be travelling in and out of hospital three times a week to undergo treatment.
“The volunteers involved in St John Scotland do an amazing job and really do provide an invaluable service to the patients they support.”
To find out more about volunteering for St John Scotland, visit https://www.stjohnscotland.org.uk/areas/aberdeen-north-east
