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00:00It's time for John and his wife Joan's regular trip from their home in Llandysil to his appointment
00:07at Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli. It's a round-trip of almost 80 miles, and with
00:13neither of them able to drive, they rely on the charity Dolenteifi.
00:17Well, we'd be lost without it. Since the bus service here, some have got worse. We have
00:27to use them then, really. Most of the buses go through Pencada, but there's no link from
00:34Pencada to Llandysil. So, you know, you're stuck then.
00:40John isn't able to use his hands, so he relies on his wife to go with him to his appointments.
00:45At one time, we used the ambulances, but you couldn't rely on them. And Joan has to come
00:52with me, so she couldn't go on the ambulances. We just couldn't manage without it.
01:00An hour later, John and Joan arrive at Prince Philip Hospital, where volunteer driver John
01:05Hans will wait before taking them home.
01:12The service isn't free, so the journey will cost them around £50.
01:16The demand for this kind of transport has gone up drastically. I think the NHS should
01:22be paying for us to come and collect John, to take him to see a specialist.
01:28With resources stretched, community transport is feeling the pinch across Wales, with the
01:33Community Transport Association estimating nearly a million journeys were made in the
01:38last year, and 60% of those journeys were to a health destination.
01:43The Welsh Government and the health boards do invest in a contract with the Wales Ambulance
01:47Service Trust, which is invaluable, and the team at WAST do an absolutely fantastic job.
01:51But they don't have the capacity to meet everybody's needs. Community transport has sort of always
01:56fallen in between the cracks with those kinds of services. It's not considered to be part
02:00of health and social care. It's not considered to be part of the mainstream transport network.
02:05In response, a Welsh Government spokesperson said that transport is available for patients
02:09needing to get to appointments who have specific medical needs, adding that they've invested
02:14£64 million this year to make improvements to existing bus networks.
02:21John will be collecting John and Joan again soon for their next appointment. Just one
02:25of the many families he'll help over Christmas and beyond.