Written evidence from Age Concern North
Craven (BUS 71)
We are an Age Concern Group operating in the predominantly
rural area of North Craven in the North Yorkshire Dales. Our transport
service is crucial in this area, as public transport is at best
sporadic and in many cases non-existent. It enables older people
to live independently in their own homes for as long as possible.
Many describe it as their lifeline. All our volunteer drivers
and couriers are MIDAS trained. There are currently 60 plus volunteers
engaged on the service. It needs a full time member of staff to
co-ordinate the service which is very busy and often operating
at capacity.
For more than 10 years our older peoples transport
service has been partly funded by North Yorkshire County Council
and the Primary Care Trust.
We have just lost the £3,000 we received annually
from NYCC and the PCT funding of £6,660 is also under threat.
If we lose this funding it is likely that we will be unable to
operate the service in the future.
We currently run our own minibus. This is our third
(bought in January 2009) and we need to purchase a new one every
five years. We have always done this through our own fund—raising
efforts. Quite an achievement for a small organisation as the
last one cost just short of £40,000.
The minibus is used every weekday, some evenings
and most weekends particularly in the Summer. We provide a door
to door service with a courier who can assist those with mobility
or other difficulties. We take older people shopping, provide
access to services, transport them to our network of lunch clubs
and arrange outings/trips for them. We provide assistants for
those who are unable to travel on their own.
The other strand of the service is our volunteer
car driver's scheme. We have a team of trained volunteers who
will drive older people to appointments often to hospital, GPs
or the dentist. Our nearest main hospital is a 45 mile round trip.
There is no direct bus route so we often transport older people
who have no transport to visit patients.
If this service ends then it will have a hugely detrimental
effect on older people in this area who are reliant on it and
describe it as their "lifeline". Many would not be able
to continue to live in their own homes. It enables them to socialise,
meet up with friends and relieves loneliness and isolation. There
is no other provider of a similar service in this area.
March 2011
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