Patients back on the road

Andy Pass, transport supervisor at The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, Tony Dawson, Arrow Self Drive Workshop Manager, and Karen Gaunt, Floyd unit manager, with members of staff from the unit

Patients from the specialist neurological rehabilitation unit at the Rochdale Floyd Unit can now get out and about to enjoy well being activities and visits to museums.

Arrow Self Drive from Huddersfield, have sponsored a brand new 16-seater minibus for the rehab unit at Birch Hill Hospital in Rochdale. The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the unit, will convert the minibus to enable wheelchair access.

The white Ford Transit was officially handed over to the Floyd Unit last month and is now ready to take patients out.

Tony Dawson, senior transport manager at Arrow Self Drive, said: “We are delighted to be able to support Birch Hill Hospital. As a family run independent company, Arrow Self Drive operates a large regional business but is very keen to keep a local focus, supporting those organisations which make a difference to the community where we can. We hope that the new minibus will help patients and the hospital on a daily basis.”

Karen Gaunt, Floyd unit manager, said: “This is a massively generous act that is going to make a huge difference for the patients and staff on the unit. The new mode of transport will ensure that journeys are safe and comfortable for the well-being activities and home visits which we organise for our patients.

”Our previous bus was almost 20 years old and was getting well past its prime. There was no way that we could have raised enough money to buy a new one and so the minibus from Arrow is a real lifesaver.”

The Floyd unit is an 18 bedded unit which provides a medium to longer term comprehensive rehabilitation service to patients who have a neurological disability, which may have been caused by an accident or illness.