Althams Travel is redeploying vehicles that would normally be used for its airport transfer service to deliver prescriptions to coronavirus patients’ homes.
The agency is helping the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, by driving NHS staff to patients’ homes with prescriptions.
Peter Mackie, general manager of Althams’ transport department, said patients weren’t being discharged quickly because they had to wait for prescriptions.
More: Latest coronavirus news and updates
Travel Weekly coronavirus resource centre
“They’re discharging them and we’re delivering prescriptions with the staff to the person’s home,” he explained.
Althams, an Advantage Travel Partnership member, currently has two drivers on permanent call, one for a hospital in Blackburn and one for Burnley. They are following government guidelines and are only in contact with the healthcare professionals they are helping.
“I’m very pleased and so is everybody in the company,” said Mackie. “We’re getting a lot of people thinking it’s a great thing to help as much as we can do. We’re very, very pleased to do it.”