Boness Car 4U is a free volunteer patient transport service for anyone registered with a Bo'ness Medical Practice who has been diagnosed with cancer. Volunteer drivers convey these patients from their home to their place of treatment and home again. The Volunteer Coordinator is the first point of contact for BC4U from the Medical Practice referring the patient to us. Patient confidentiality is paramount in this role, we do not need to know how the patient is affected, nor the nature of the treatment being administered, all that effects us is that the patient has asked for transportation. Please note some more detailed information about the expectations of the role below: Patients phone their own GP’s receptionists with their name and phone number when they have an appointment date. The receptionist will then contact the BC4U co-ordinator to pass on the patient’s contact details. It is intended that we will have 4 co-ordinators, each in possession of our laptop and mobile phone for an on-call period of 7 days. The co-ordinator will then contact the patient to find out the following information: • Place of treatment • Dates / times and expected length of the appointment if known. • Ask if the patient has received COVID-19 vaccinations. • Establish if the patient requires assistance or a wheelchair at the hospital. • Establish if the patient is exempt from wearing face coverings • Are there any special circumstances whereby it is essential that the patient must be accompanied by a friend • Arrange for a Privacy Document to be completed. As far as is possible arrange transfer of documents electronically. • Advise the patient that they will be required to undertake a contactless forehead thermometer test when they are about to be uplifted, sit in the back seat of the car diagonally opposite the driver and that they must wear a face covering if it is safe for them to do so and that we can provide a face covering if required. • Advise the patient that if they are displaying any of the recognised symptoms of COVID19 they will not be able to travel with Bo’ness Car 4U. The co-ordinator then contacts a driver to ascertain if they are available for the given date(s), and gives the patient’s name, address, phone number and the date, time, place and expected length of the appointment if known. The co-ordinator enters all this information onto our password-protected spreadsheet to ensure records of each journey, the patient's details, the destination, etc. and all other future dates/times to book up either the same driver, or another available driver. Training will be given in the use of our basic IT system. Previous experience of office IT would be advantageous. Using the statistics of Meadowbank Car4U, Polmont, who have been running a similar project for the past 4 years, offering this service to a population twice the size of Bo'ness, we estimate processing approximately 30 persons in a year. BC4U hopes to launch service in 2022, we are keen to build a bank of volunteers in advance of launching our services.

Volunteer Drivers with Boness Car 4U will be asked to take people registered with any Bo'ness Medical Practice who have been diagnosed with cancer from their homes to places of treatment, then home again, using their own vehicles. The service the volunteers provide is much needed giving patients the dignity, respect and convenience that they deserve at a difficult time in their lives and is greatly appreciated by them. We know that helping in this way gives volunteers a lot of role satisfaction and below we've noted more information about what the role looks like in practice, and what the expectations are so interested people can make sure it's the right role for them: We pay our drivers 40 pence per mile for fuel used and this had no effect on any benefits the driver may be in receipt of. Insurance premiums should be unaffected but we advise drivers to notify their insurers to let then know they intend to use the car for voluntary work. Each volunteer driver will be asked to undergo a process of safeguarding training and (in order to comply with the Protection of Vulnerable Groups scheme) following this they will be PVG checked/gain a PVG certificate for their voluntary role with BC4U (this is cost free to the volunteer). Drivers are issued with a clear plastic cough screen which is fitted to the vehicle headrests which provides a physical sneeze guard between the front and rear seats of the car, and are also issued with a holdall containing PPE. Drivers are notified of the name, address and phone number of the patient and the time date and location of the place of treatment. The driver phones the patient the night before the drive, confirming the time they will be picked up and due to the pandemic will ask the patient if they are displaying any of the recognised symptoms of COVID-19. At the pick up they will confirm this information and take a temperature reading of the patient using a contactless infrared forehead thermometer. The patient will travel in the back seat of the car, diagonally opposite the driver and must wear a face covering if it is safe for them to do so. On arrival at the place of treatment the driver ensures the patient has their mobile phone number to tell them when they are finished and ready to be picked up. If the course of treatment is lengthy, it may be arranged that one driver takes the patient to hospital and another conveys them home. BC4U hopes to launch service in 2022, we are keen to build a bank of volunteers in advance of launching our services.