A DISABALED pensioner from Stroud has criticised the ‘outrageous’ cost of hospital parking after shelling out almost £1,000 on trips to appointments.

Robin Deane, 69, from Cashes Green, said he’d spent around £1,000 on parking expenses and travelling costs to and from Gloucestershire Royal Hospital since July.

He said that not once in five months and countless visits was he informed he was eligible to reclaim these expenses under the Healthcare Travel Cost Scheme (HTCS).

Mr Deane was recently diagnosed with Myasthenia, a rare long-term condition that causes certain muscles to become weak and slowly shuts down the immune system.

The debilitating disease has meant he’s recently lost the ability to walk properly and has to use a wheelchair.

“I’ve been in and out of hospital on and off since 2014. But not once during these countess visits did any member of staff give me any information,” said Mr Deane, who has lived in Stroud with his wife for 17 years.

“It’s completely unbelievable. If these things are widely available you should be told. Every patient should be informed they can claim the money back.”

He said in November alone he spent £300 on parking costs and the petrol for the 22-mile round journey.

“The parking costs are ridiculous, and even worse if you have to use the hospital frequently like I do,” added Mr Deane.

“It’s only after you count up the costs that you find out how much you are actually spending.

“All the money that comes in from my pension goes straight back out again on these costs, I am struggling to get by.

“The only times I’ve left the house in the past couple of months has been to go to hospital or doctors’ appointments, I can’t afford to do anything else.

“If it weren’t for my wife I don’t know what I’d do. A lot of people in my situation would be faced by a choice of travelling to hospital for treatment or feeding themselves.

“I imagine there are thousands of people like me who have no idea they are entitled to this service. The health service need to do a lot more to let people know.”

The national HTCS has been up and running in Gloucestershire for years now.

The national scheme reimburses people on low income or benefits for their travel costs to hospital appointments. But many people are still unaware it exists.

A spokesman for the Gloucestershire NHS Trust said: “We are very sorry to hear about the difficulties Mr Deane has been having accessing information about travelling to and parking on our hospital sites.

“We would advise him to get in touch with our patient liaison team as soon as possible so that we can help investigate what support we can offer.

“We do provide weekly parking permits at a discounted rate to certain groups of patients and visitors and there is financial assistance available for those on a low income or benefits.

“Our PALS team would very much like the opportunity to discuss these concessions with Mr Deane and would encourage him to contact them on 0800 019 3282.”

Despite the scheme being widely available, recent research by Citizens Advice Stroud and Cotswold Districts has shown that many people entitled to claim didn’t know about it.

Sandi Sorell, deputy chief officer of Citizens Advice Stroud and Cotswold Districts, said: “Travelling to hospital can be a challenge, especially for elderly, sick or disabled people living in rural areas with no access to public transport.

“It can cost £30 or more for a round trip, which is a great deal for someone in receipt of a benefit such as Pension Credit. So getting these costs reimbursed can make a real difference to their lives and stop unnecessary worry.

“Unfortunately the system for reclaiming can be very confusing, some have to wait a long time for the reimbursement to come though.”

A recent survey carried out by Citizens Advice Stroud found that 64 per cent of people asked had not heard of the scheme.

Of these people, 85 per cent were actually eligible to claim the reimbursement.

“This is the reason we’ve been working hard with Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning group to raise awareness,” added Mrs Sorell.

A meeting in Stroud last month hosted by Citizen’s Advice brought people together to discuss ways to promote the scheme and to improve its take up.

These included representatives from the local health organisations, councils and community transport providers.

For more information about the Travel Costs scheme, look at www.gloucestershireccg.nhs.uk/your-services/patient-transport/

Or contact Citizens Advice Stroud and Cotswold Districts on 0808 800 0510 or 0808 800 0511.