"Unhelpful response to patient transport request"

One of our residents needs to go to a clinic next week and in the appointment letter it said to request an ambulance and a number. There’s a paragraph on the letter, which is important, because it clearly states ambulance transport is available for patients who need support to reach their appointments if there are medical or mobility needs preventing them from travelling independently or they require the support of the ambulance staff.

So I called the service, and explained there’s a resident with an unstable fracture who needs to be safe en-route. I asked for an ambulance escort and the call handler asked me for so much information and then kept asking me to justify why I needed an ambulance when there was a wheelchair taxi available and an escort from within the care home. I was trying to justify things about the person, including mental state and mobility and risk factors linked to both the patient and carer. I felt justified in asking for that. This call handler just kept repeating why I hadn't answered their question about requesting an ambulance and saying that a wheelchair taxi should be ok. Then said there wasn’t justification for an ambulance.

I found the tone of voice during the call was very off hand and very unhelpful. I said I wanted to make a complaint and she said I needed to go through an appeals line, I had already been on the phone for 25 minutes and wouldn’t have time to do that.

The paragraph offering support should include criteria about when they won’t offer support.