A pensioner who lives in the Outer Hebrides is forced to make a gruelling 125 mile journey by taxi, plane and ferry to receive life-saving treatment.
Mary Jefferson, 73, needs kidney dialysis to keep her alive after her organs began failing a year ago.
The retired nurse, who has lived in Lochboisdale for 20 years, went into renal failure in January 2024 after she spent nine weeks fighting for her life at Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, with sepsis.
Now on the transplant waiting list and facing a three-year wait, Mary has been left with no option but to trek to the Western Isles Dialysis Unit in Stornoway for treatment twice a week.
Her trip usually starts with a taxi from her home to Benbecula Airport before she flies to Stornaway where she gets another taxi to the Western Isles Hospital, resulting in a six hour round trip.
If the flight is cancelled, she has to rely on a ferry.
Mary told the Record the journey is exhausting, but that she is often left fearing she will miss her treatment or get stranded in Stornoway due to unreliable weather and transport.
She believes the situation shows a lack of care for people living remotely and is calling on NHS bosses to provide better treatment at a more local level.
Mary said: “After dialysis I feel very tired. I have no appetite and I’m generally exhausted. I never know if I will get home that night so my life is dramatically impacted and I cannot make plans.
“The plane which should fly me to and from Stornoway often does not fly.
“Last weekend I had to go to Uig on Skye to get the ferry back across to Lochmaddy on North Uist.
“It took four hours and I felt awful, I couldn’t eat anything and just wanted to go to bed.
“Sometimes I even have to spend nights in an NHS nursing home and the accommodation is a good distance from the hospital.
“The staff at the renal unit are absolutely brilliant and I can’t fault them. But the system is broken.
“I feel like the NHS bosses don’t really care about people like me.
“It’s horrible to think that ,but when they put you through this every week what else am I supposed to think?
“There is a perfectly good hospital in Benbecula, which is only 25 minutes away by car, but they don’t have the facilities for anything. “People getting chemotherapy also have to travel to Stornoway.
A spokesperson for NHS Western Isles said: “We are not in a position to comment on individual cases. With all patients we take a person-centred approach, ensuring that the necessary care and treatment are provided in the most suitable, safe and effective environment.
‘All options, risks and benefits are part of that conversation with patients.
“In the case of dialysis, the service is provided at the Western Isles Hospital in Stornoway.
“Recent changes to the travel infrastructure, particularly air travel between our islands in the Western Isles, does create additional disruption and anxiety for patients travelling to health when unplanned travel cancellations occur.”
The Scottish Government has been approached for comment.
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