Hovertravel has announced an enhanced boarding procedure for patients, developed in conjunction with the Wessex Cancer Trust.
Patients with the Wessex Cancer Trust lanyard will be allowed to pre-board, ahead of other customers, if they wish.
Loretta Lale, Head of Commercial at Hovertravel, explains: “Having chosen the Wessex Cancer Trust as our charity of the year, we wanted to embrace our relationship and see if we could make practical improvements to our journey experience, which would assist patients.
At the same time, we are fully aware of the huge backlog of patients with hospital appointments and that some people might be feeling apprehensive about travelling. Our discussions with the Trust identified that we could give these customers more time to board by offering pre-boarding ahead of other customers.”
The pre-boarding policy was trialled during the month of April, to gain feedback from patients, Hovertravel staff and other customers.
Mike Sizer Green, the manager of Manager of the Isle of Wight Cancer Wellbeing Centre, adds: “I personally want to thank the Hovertravel team for helping to develop the boarding procedure for Islanders needing to cross the Solent for cancer treatment at the Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth. The Wessex Cancer Trust Daisy Bus provides around 10,000 individual journeys annually for Islanders affected by cancer. We can be contacted on 01983 524186 or at isleofwight@wessexcancer.org.uk”.
The pre-boarding procedure is voluntary. Hovertravel will make the following announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen we are about to start pre-boarding for any customers using the Daisy Bus” and at that point any patients who would like more time to board can come forward.
The Wessex Cancer Trust provides a free minibus service (the Daisy Bus) picking up patients from outside the Hovertravel terminal in Southsea and delivering them to the Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth.
