News from the call centre
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TX1 WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBILITY BRINGS NEW
ROLE IN PATIENT TRANSPORT
One of Britain's best known hospitals has acquired three LTI TXI
taxis for the transportation of patients. St James's University Hospital in
Leeds, known to millions as the location for the TV programme
"Jimmy's", is using the TXIs, purchased from Mann & Overton
(Manchester) for conveying ambulant patients and those in wheelchairs,
families and carers. The hospital has been using London style cabs for this
function for several years and chose new TXIs based on the host of features
designed specifically with the disabled passenger in mind. Ron Limb,
Transport Manager at St James's, told Call Sign that the easy loading and
securing of the wheelchair patient ensures they can be transported in their
chair to assess their ability to cope at home, without the risk to the
patient that might be encountered when loading them into or getting them out
of an ordinary saloon car. The integral ramp in the TXI allows the
wheelchair to be easily pushed into the vehicle regardless of whether a kerb
is present, while the TXI locking mechanism secures the wheelchair firmly in
place during transit. Mr Limb added that the TXI's ease of access with its
intermediate step and swivel seat for the ambulant disabled passenger, plus
its ability to carry six passengers, gives him ideal flexibility. "The
patient transport service is in constant demand and we will shortly be
operating around the clock. We needed a versatile, easily accessible
vehicle, which is also durable enough to cope with high mileage around both
cities and rural areas. We are also using them to take patients home from
the A&E department and reduce the pressure on the ambulance
service. The TXI really has proved ideal for us and my drivers are
delighted with them - I'm sure we'll be back for more." Over the years
a number of hospitals and ambulance services have seen wheelchair accessible
taxis as a useful addition to their fleet with their built-in intercom,
induction loop for the deaf, built-in child seat, colour co-ordinated grab
handles and seat edges for the poorly sighted - and of course the integral
ramp. Each of the three TXIs supplied to St James's has been specially
customised by Mann & Overton with an 'Ambulance' sign replacing the
traditional illuminated Taxi sign normally used on the vehicle. London Taxis
International Regional Development Director, Andrew Overton, commented:
"Unlike most other vehicles traditionally used for patient transport,
purpose built taxis retain high residual values - meaning the decision to
use a TXI for this purpose makes sound financial sense as well as making
life much easier for patients."
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Many of you will have supported us at the Business and Travel Show at
Olympia. The three days went extremely well for us and I would like to thank
all the staff for their fine effort. Not only did we have a very good
display stand thanks to Mike Son, but he also pulled off bit of a coup by
arranging with the organisers for us to have a position in the main
reception area. We had two of our telephonists present Rachael and Rebecca
who were very active taking names of potential clients and offered a credit
card booking service to all that required a cab.
The timing of the show could not have been better so far as our
new Sales Manager Lydia Foulkes was concerned. It was her first real
opportunity to be let loose following her induction to the Society. She
didn't miss a trick in introducing herself to many visitors and other
exhibitors. The number of contact meetings she has arranged has certainly
filled the diaries up for the next few months.
It was interesting hearing her talk with hotel groups and
airlines to hopefully work in partnership, a concept that could have a great
deal of potential. Our staff who were on parade, worked very hard as did our
marshals who provided an excellent service in getting people into to cabs
and then away in weather conditions that were very unpleasant. We were the
envy of our competitors who instructed their own teams to visit our stand to
see how proactive we were!
What I found really interesting from talking with clients was
the issue of run-ins. The reason why we have a run-in was usually accepted.
The question they ask is why can't we check or prove that the driver has
arrived with the correct amount on the meter? It would appear that others
are able to do this via their satellite capabilities and meter interface.
It isn't enough that we can estimate meter reading from the
times we have regarding the 'accept' and 'arrival' of a driver, we still
need to be able to capture
this information without any driver input if we are to ensure client
confidence in us.
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Keith Cain
I will be talking with Tom and Debbie Carter at our software
department to see how we can achieve this, but until then everyone must
please ensure that they arrive with the correct run-in amount on all trips.
It is a wide spread issue and many clients have put instructions in place to
check the meter when getting in the cab. If a client complains about any
driver in future, the Sales and Customer Care departments have been
instructed to pass the trip information to Tom Whitbread in the Complaints
Department to look into the matter.
Trips Via The M25
Account trips via the M25 are becoming more of an issue. We have
always instructed drivers to ensure they obtain the permission of their
passenger before going anywhere via the M25. It would appear that passengers
are saying that some drivers could be juggling with the truth to ensure they
gain authorisation to go via the M25. I would recommend that you do not use
the M25 unless your passenger instructs you to without any prompting by
yourself.
Mark Tiller's Mailshot Letter
In answer to Mark Tiller's (K90) letter in this issue's Mailshot
regarding some credit card bookings that were not accepted at the Eurostar
terminal, please accept my apologies for this and also pass them along to
your friend. I wrongly presumed that the line of communication had reached
all staff on all shifts.
The first part of good management is to not to presume anything
and on this occasion I failed to follow my own teachings! All have now been
instructed and there should not be any problems for the future.
Keith Cain
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