WELLY Hopper, a volunteer car service run by patients to help fellow patients get to and from appointments at Wellington Medical Centre, will be launched today (Thursday, June 6).

Mayor of Wellington and Somerset West and Taunton councillor Janet Lloyd will be at the medical centre in Mantle Street to welcome the first patient to use the new service.

Erica Adams, chairman of the medical centre’s patient participation group, had the idea for the Welly Hopper after hearing about the difficulties one woman faced travelling a short distance for an appointment.

Mrs Adams said: “The centre has more than 15,000 registered patients, a fair number of these are over the age of 60 and a number of them also have mobility problems. Many do not have their own transport and buses, sadly, are either non-existent or not convenient.”

Patients will be able to phone the Welly Hopper phone numbers and request a lift – volunteer transport co-ordinators Beryl, Lynn and Gerald will be available to help.

Volunteer drivers have been recruited who will use their own cars and they will receive 45 pence a mile towards the cost of their journeys. Patients will pay 50 pence a mile, 5 pence of this going towards the cost of running the scheme, with a minimum charge of £1.50. Patients who live in Somerset who hold a current concessionary Somerset County Council bus pass will receive a 50 per cent reduction.

The scheme has been launched with funding from Wellington Town Council, Somerset Community Foundation, Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group (SCCG) and funds raised by medical centre patients and friends at a dinner-dance last autumn.

The county council Highways and Transport commissioning manager, SCCG, the West Somerset Car Scheme Partnership and the Otter Wheels Scheme near Bridgwater helped set it up.

The scheme will start slowly with the co-ordinators available every Tuesday – phone 07412 399012 – and Thursday – phone 07305 617047.

Mrs Adams added: “The success of this scheme obviously depends on the dedicated volunteers who operate it.

“So we would be pleased to hear from anyone who perhaps could spare a few hours a week to help the community by driving patients or acting as another co-ordinator handling the requests from patients.”

She can be contacted via email on [email protected]