Transport

Many of the children have to journey several times a week to The Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh to attend out-patient clinics, oncology wards for chemotherapy or theatre procedures for up to three years. We collect and return them from their own home or school.

Some travel daily to the Western General hospital for Radiotherapy for up to six weeks. During these treatments the children often feel nauseated, can be violently sick and are susceptible to infections, which can be life threatening because their resistance is so low. Travelling on public transport is therefore not an option and a parent would find it difficult to drive and look after the child at the same time. We therefore provide a tailor-made transport package that has been completely reliable for over 14 years.

There may be hospital transport available but it is not ideal. The child has to be ready and waiting to be picked up early as part of a run. They have to tolerate an extended journey to drop other patients off at various other hospitals and addresses along the way, and then sometimes wait for several hours for transport home again. NHS will only allow the sick child and one carer to travel whereas we will take the whole family. During school holidays this is a huge bonus for the parents who cannot find anyone to look after the other siblings on a regular basis. Hospital transport also insist on 48 hours notice for any pick-ups which is no good for emergency situations which we act on immediately.

Our coach travels all over Scotland on a daily basis. We are providing a vital, infection-free, friendly (our driver is a father who had a child with leukaemia) and reliable transport service for the sick children and their families.

Thanks to the many sponsors we now have a lovely new luxury mini-bus complete with drop down dvd player, individual overhead lights and climate controls. It also has a tail lift for wheelchairs.

Due to the fantastic fundraising efforts of the staff at Standard Life Investments we were recently gifted a top of the range Mercedes Benz R-Class. 7 seats of absolute luxury for the more delicate children to travel in comfort. This also has a drop down dvd player with wireless headphones, the children can watch a movie or play their games console during the journey – a great distraction!