MY mother has been attending the Scarborough Eylea clinic for treatment of age-related macular degeneration (wet), on average every six weeks for the past 18 months. She is 91 and lives in a residential care home in Scarborough.

She has significant other age-related health problems, but her most disabling condition is her mobility. She has chronic osteoarthritis in both knees that result in her relying totally on a wheelchair for any movement outside of her room.

She currently attends the clinic at Scarborough Hospital by privately funding a wheelchair taxi, which offers her the most efficient means of attending the clinic to receive the necessary treatment.

This clinic is used by people living across the Scarborough, Whitby and Ryedale areas and in early October, a letter from York Teaching Hospital Trust was sent to patients advising that the Scarborough Clinic was being transferred to Bridlington Hospital early November. This was the first time a transfer had been mentioned.

The letter stated that a shuttle bus service was to be provided hospital to hospital, but that the journey would be an additional 55 minutes each way, effectively adding at least two hours to my mother’s clinic time.

It also stated that a patient may be eligible for ambulance transport, but you have to have a “medical need for transport”, which people attending out patient clinics do not normally have.

Certainly my mother has been told she is not eligible.

The vast majority of patients attending the clinic are elderly and the majority have varying degrees of disability problems.

At this point, I have no idea what my mother will do about future appointments. We cannot guarantee she would be able to use the shuttle service because she has to be transported in a wheelchair and you can’t book a wheelchair place; she is not eligible for ambulance transport; she cannot travel in a car and the additional two to three hours required to attend the clinic at Bridlington will cause her considerable additional pain and discomfort.

As far as the trust is concerned, the decision has been made and it is up to patients to manage the additional stress and costs the decision has brought about. I wonder how many of the decision-makers have actually experienced what it is like to have impaired vision on top of mobility problems and then have to travel for two hours in a small shuttle bus – I guess none have.

I have no doubt that I am not the only person concerned about this. I would ask people to write to the Patient Advisory and Liaison Service (PALS) at Scarborough Hosptial and/or contact your local councillor, GP and MP and let them know your views.

If enough people shows their concerns, then maybe, York Teaching Hospital Trust will be forced to reconsider the decision and put patients needs at the forefront of their decision-making.

Anne Tidd, Brompton by Sawdon