Getting Patients to Appointments: Notes on a Volunteer Driver Rota

One of the most common reasons patients miss appointments at our practice has nothing to do with their health. It's transport. No car, a bus route that changed, a family member who couldn't get the morning off. Missed appointments mean delayed care, and the people affected are often the ones who can least afford the delay.

Last autumn a few carers from our area who had met in Caregivers Connect offered to help. What started as a handful of lifts became a small volunteer driver rota. Here's how it works and what we've learned so far. As always, this is about organising support, not medical advice.

How it works

• One coordinator, not a group chat. Patients or their carers ask for a lift through one person, who matches them with a driver. Appointment details never get posted where a dozen people can read them.
• Time and place only. Drivers know when and where. They don't need to know why, and they're asked never to ask.
• Two days' notice for routine visits, so drivers can plan their week.
• Volunteers set their own limits. Some drive once a month, some twice a week. Both are welcome.

What we've seen

Among patients using the rota, missed appointments have dropped noticeably, though our numbers are small and I won't pretend this is a study. The bigger surprise was what happened in the car. Several patients told us the drive was the only real conversation they'd had all week. Some drivers said the same.

What we'd do differently

We should have written the boundaries down on day one instead of in week six. And we should have planned for winter, when a third of our drivers were away or unwell. We now review the whole rota every six weeks, which catches most problems early.

If you're thinking of setting up something similar in your own neighbourhood, I'm happy to answer questions in the comments. Insurance, mileage and local rules vary a lot by place, so local advice matters.