Medical Transport Pilot

This service is for people who are:

• Attending specialist care at Melbourne medical hubs and Specialist clinics e.g. Peter Mac, St Vincent’s, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Northern Health
• Require a same-day return trip e.g. appointments between 10:30am-2:30pm
  or have organised their own overnight stay
• Need non-medical, non-urgent transport or assistance to get there
• Located in the pickup service area around Bendigo Suburbs and Heathcote, and through to Melbourne. (Please check the service area map for details).

All travellers must be:

• non-violent and not a risk to other passengers and our transport staff
• do not need emergency or medical support on the journey.

Patients can be any age and can have a companion join them.

We offer the following support:

• Affordable, accessible transport to get to Melbourne and back. Full costs are subsidised by patient’s specific eligible support funding (eg: Aged Care funding – call for details)
• Help with general welfare, social and mobility issues e.g. wheelchair, walkers
• Help getting to the appointment location
• Help with language, cultural or vulnerability needs (we speak >25 languages at head office)

Specialist care appointments covered include:

• consults, treatments, scans or testing
• first time referrals and repeat visits
• same-day return trips.

Our service cannot support patients who need any sort of emergency or medical care or provision on the journey. It is not staffed by qualified medical teams.

Please, do not book this service for:

• Patients who need emergency or medical assistance or stretchers. This service is not a replacement for patients who require ambulance or NEPT medicalised transport.
• Patients who can be violent or pose a risk to other patients or other people travelling with them.
• Patients outside the pilot catchment area. (see map for details).

Importantly, this service is only for patients attending a medical appointment in Melbourne.

It is not for people going to visit family or friends in hospital or in Melbourne.

We will pick up people from their home in Bendigo and surrounding suburbs.

We will pick people up from Heathcote (Initially from a transit location). Home pickup and drop off for Heathcote residents and people living in a 30km radius will be introduced in conjunction with RFDS in the near future. Please ask for timing of availability of this service.

Current services go to Melbourne medical regions and hubs listed below:

Norther region

Northern Hospital, The Austin Hospital, Olivia Newton John Centre

Parkville

Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH), Royal Women’s Hospital, Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH), Royal Dental Hospital

East Melbourne / Richmond

St Vincent’s Hospital, Freemasons, Mercy, Epworth, Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital

• Door-to-door pick ups and drop offs
• Help with general welfare, social and mobility issues e.g. wheelchair, walker
• Help getting to the appointment location
• Help with language, cultural or vulnerability needs
• Affordable, accessible transport to get to Melbourne and back – Costs reduced by patient’s specific eligible support funding (call for details)

Please note that several stops can or will be made along the way. If you have travel concerns, please let us know in the online booking form, or call us to discuss.

No. Do not book this service if you need – or are likely to need – any emergency or medical care.

Please talk to you doctor about appropriate medical transport providers. Ambulance Victoria runs both emergency and non-emergency patient transport for medical transfers. They may be able to assist.

Please complete the booking / registration form.

There is a space on the form to add your questions, and our customer support team will call you.

The service is being provided by LINK Community & Transport, Victoria’s largest community transport provider, working in collaboration with Royal Flying Doctors Service, Heathcote Health, the Department of Transport’s Flexible Local Transport Support Program, and other partners.

It is a pilot to determine the level of demand, and value of such a service to support people in regional areas. Further steps will be discussed amongst participating partners based on the learnings and results of this pilot.

The service is being provided by LINK Community & Transport, Victoria’s largest community transport provider, working in collaboration with Royal Flying Doctors Service, Heathcote Health, the Department of Transport’s Flexible Local Transport Support Program, and other partners.

LINK and its staff are accredited and operate under the quality and safety programs of Aged Care (Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission), NDIS (NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission), and the transport vehicle safety regulations of Safe Transport Victoria.

The full costs of the services provided under this pilot are subsidised by patient’s specific eligible support funding (eg: Aged Care funding, NDIS) and through funding provided to the Pilot under the Department of Transport’s Flexible Local Transport Support Program. Please call for details.

Clients pay a $15 user contribution fee per trip / $30 return. Companions travelling with the client will also be asked to pay this fee.

This will be invoiced, and is payable by bank transfer, credit card and online transfer. No cash or payments are accepted on the vehicle.

Your information will be shared amongst the organisations involved in organising your transit (LINK Community & Transport, and RFDS), your referring doctor, and your destination medical appointment only, and only for the purpose of organising your safe transit, or offering you other forms of supported service.

Your information will not be used for any other purpose.

By booking into and using this service you consent to your personal information being used in this way.

Yes, please register your details with us. Then when you have an appointment time and date confirmed, email or call us with your appointment details.

We will send reminder messages if we haven’t heard from you.

We understand this can happen with medical appointments, so please call us as soon as you know.

The full fare will be charged if you do not contact us to change a booked appointment at least 4 days prior to transit.

We will ask your specialist to prioritise your appointment due to your reliance on this specialist transport service. We ask them to see you within the hours of 10:30 to 2:30 to ensure your safe transport.

As a shared service, we will not be able to delay if your appointment is running late. We will either have to take you home without your having completed your appointment, or you may have to organise alternate return transport, or overnight accommodation at your own cost.

The hospital or specialist may be able to help you in this contingency.

Supporting transit and accommodation for late appointments, or for escalated care (where your appointment requires immediate further tests, treatment or consultation) is beyond the scope of this pilot service.

We hope to coordinate with hospitals and the health system to create a clearer and more available system for this requirement in the future – but cannot assist further at this stage.

Yes. One or more companions are welcome to travel with the client. Companions travelling with a client will need to book onto the service in advance as there is limited space available. Companions travelling with the client will be asked to pay the $15 user contribution fee per trip (each direction).

LINK may be able to assist if you need someone to travel with you, or if you need assistance getting to and from your appointment once you reach your hospital destination. Not all requests will be able to be met, depending on resources and the level of demand. Additional costs will apply. Please call us to ask for details.