We have had a lot of feedback from patients who have been given appointments a long way from home, when the services they need can be available at West Cornwall Hospital. We want to encourage people to ask for appointments nearer to home, if that would suit them better.
We know that travelling further for appointments costs time and money, especially when using public transport, which if available, may be very difficult to access, particularly for frail and elderly patients.
Often appointments can be made at West Cornwall Hospital, but the systems used by the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust (RCHT) only offer the first available appointment, not giving patients a choice to be seen closer to home.
We are lobbying RCHT to change the way they allocate appointments and to take more note of the distance patients need to travel.
Our aim is to ensure that people receiving outpatient/clinic appointments, who live in the Penwith area, are given the choice to be seen locally at West Cornwall Hospital, wherever possible.
