Supporting the best possible care in Acharacle, Ardgour, Morvern, Sunart & West Ardnamurchan
Transport
This service is for people of any age who are resident in the community council areas of Acharacle, Ardgour, Morvern, Sunart or West Ardnamurchan and who need assistance to attend essential appointments.
We own a Citroën Berlingo, Hyundai EV which is based in Acharacle, A Skoda EV based in Strontian and a Nissan EV based in Lochaline. Our volunteer drivers are also able to use their own vehicles to assist you to attend your appointment.
How it works
We can support you with any medical appointment - not just NHS appointments but dentist , eye appointments, counselling etc. As soon as you receive your appointment letter, contact our transport manager by emailing janice.mackinnon@urram.scot or by calling on 01967 750060.
The transport manager will try and arrange a volunteer driver. They will then contact you to let you know who your driver will be.
Your driver will telephone you to confirm collection time.
The driver will collect you from your house, take you to your appointment and then return you to your house.
There is a small charge for this - £15 to Fort William and £25 to Raigmore.
If your journey is for a hospital appointment, we ask that you request a travel expenses form from the hospital and give this form to your driver, so that Urram can claim travel costs towards your journey.
We do our best to help all that we can, but we are reliant on volunteers, so unfortunately there may be occasions where we are unable to help.
Transport Enquiry
FAQ's
The service is planned with your needs in mind and pick up times for your journey will be arranged with your driver when they phone you to confirm details. We will endeavour to pick you up as close to this time as possible.
Yes, for regular appointments as part of your critical care. Our drivers are volunteers but we do our best to ensure we can support you in this way if necessary.
You will not be asked for details. However, it is helpful to our volunteer driver to know what hospital department you need to attend.
Yes, and we can also collect you after your hospital stay for your return journey home.
Yes, Urram Hospital Transport is a door to door service. We will collect you from your house, or if required another address in the service area. We may ask you to be dropped off at a pre-designated pick up point if required.
We have a Citroën Berlingo, a Hyundai EV based in Acharacle, a Nissan EV based in Lochaline and we also use the Urram Car Club Skoda EV that is based in Strontian. If suitable, and our volunteers are willing to use their own cars, we are insured for that. When your trip is confirmed we will let you know which vehicle to expect.
If you are on certain qualifying benefits the service is free and we will discuss this when you book. Otherwise, there is a suggested donation of £15 for journeys to Fort William and £25 to Raigmore and other hospitals. We also ask that when you are attending an NHS appointment you request an NHS travel form and give this form to your driver. This donation and the travel form contribute to service running costs.
Simply phone and let us know as soon as you are aware of your changes in circumstance. As much notice as possible would be appreciated.
We aim to assist whenever we are needed - however this depends on the availability of a volunteer driver.
Further Information
Unfortunately, we are not in a position to provide transport for unaccompanied children (16 and under) or dogs (other than guide dogs). All drivers are members of the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Adult Scheme and will be following Urram’s Safeguarding Policy.
We may contact you after you have used the service for your feedback and statistical purposes. This will help us to continue to improve the service and may help with future funding applications. Any information you do provide will be held in accordance with our privacy policy but of course you are not obliged to answer any further questions.
We are very grateful to all our funding partners: Highland Council, Scottish Government, Energy Saving Trust, Transport Scotland and Peregrine Ardnamurchan Charitable Trust and The National Lottery, Improving Lives Fund for their generous financial contributions. However, even with this and the per mile payments from the NHS, the service only just breaks even. If you would like to make a contribution to this vital service, or indeed towards Urram’s other services and vision of ‘Delivering the best possible care for people in Acharacle, Ardgour, Morvern, Sunart & West Ardnamurchan’ then you can do so via our support us page.