Recruiting volunteers for St John Scotland Renal Dialysis Patient Transport Service in Moray

Published: 11/01/2023 11:28

St John Scotland plans a new dialysis transport service  

St John Scotland plans to launch a transport service to help serve dialysis patients across Moray. 

The service, run by volunteers will enhance the transport provision provided free of charge to those living with chronic kidney disease who must undergo dialysis at Dr Gray’s Hospital, Elgin three times a week. 

The service is due to begin in spring to early summer of 2023 and will help patients to attend these vital appointments. 

Linda Willows, senior charge nurse for the dialysis unit at Dr Gray's Hospital commented: "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."

The service will run 6 days a week and aims for a team of upwards of 18 St John Scotland volunteers using their own cars to provide door-to-door transport between a patient’s home and the hospital. Volunteers will be provided with milage and, where necessary, a meals allowance. Volunteers will be able to do so for as many or as few days and journeys as they are able to be available. The team of drivers will be coordinated by volunteers. Clifford Eastmond is the local St John Scotland lead volunteer for Patient Transport and said:

“The Aberdeen and NE service is the latest to be launched by St John Scotland, who have been providing volunteer-run Patient Transport services in other parts of the country since the late 1990s.”

Clifford Eastmond

Clifford continued: “We’re really pleased to be able to start this service in Moray for local patients. 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.”

If you are interested in volunteering, please do so through visiting - https://www.stjohnscotland.org.uk/areas/aberdeen-north-east, emailing - info@stjohnscotland.org.uk or calling 0131 556 8711.