Hospital minibus service at risk without fundraiser

A hospital transport service is aiming to raise £40,000 to protect it from funding gaps and rising costs in order to keep it running for another year.

Godalming and Haslemere Hospital Hoppa services ferry patients from their homes to the Royal Surrey Hospital, Haslemere Hospital and other facilities across the region.

The service, which takes about 100 people to and from appointments each month, is "absolutely vital" for some customers as an accessible and affordable form of hospital transport, the charity's general manager Richard Davies said.

He said: "A lot of our customers are vulnerable so we are trying to keep the cost as low as possible."

Davies added: "Some of our customers couldn't get to their appointments otherwise."

Davies said the hospital services had been running for about 10 years, but a loss of funding sources had primarily driven the need for a fundraiser.

The £40,000 fundraising target would cover the service's costs for a year, he added.

General financial pressures have also affected the service, including the price of fuel which has cost the service £3,000 a month more than before the start of the war in Iran and the closing of the Strait of Hormuz.

Using the service, patients pay £12.50 each way and are picked up from their front door, before being dropped off outside the entrance of the hospital.

Davies said that, due to being in one of the most rural parts of Surrey, the service often filled a gap in accessible transport for people heading to medical appointments.

Other hospital Hoppa services run in Cranleigh and Farnham, but these have not been affected by the fundraising push, Davies said.

About £2,500 has been raised so far for the service, according to the charity's website.

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