Heartbreak for couple as ferry stress forces move
An elderly couple have taken the heartbreaking decision to move off the island they always thought they would call home.
They say a lack of a proper system to allow islanders to get to the mainland for vital hospital appointments and to visit relatives in hospital has been the final straw.
As a result of repeated stress and anxiety in recent months, Isobel and Hugh Thomson have put their beloved house in Whiting Bay on the market and are moving to Largs.
Isobel, 79, says they are not the only islanders to leave because of the inability to book the ferry at short notice for appointments.
Added to this, her husband has been in hospital for seven weeks after being helicoptered off the island. She has not seen him for two weeks and does not know when she will.
After months of deliberation, Mingulay, their home of 18 years, went on the market this week.
‘We just have no choice but to move to the mainland. Hugh, who is 83, may need dialysis three times a week and we just can’t take the chance he won’t get across.
‘I know of three other older couples who have already left the island for the same reason.
One couple went to Prestwick, one to Dunoon, interestingly, and the other down south.
‘I never thought for a moment we would ever leave Arran. We made it our home and we love it, but we have simply been left with no choice because of the situation with the ferries.’
Isobel admits the problems have been exacerbated by the pandemic and the loss of the MV Isle of Arran at the start of the summer sailings.
But when Hugh was admitted to Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock, where he remains, Isobel found herself living in her son’s home in Wemyss Bay and with friends in Houston so she could visit him every day. The trip to the hospital was a 72-mile round trip from Houston but it had to be done, Isobel said, ‘as I knew I couldn’t come home’.
But her concerns at being able to get on the ferries for hospital appointments started before Hugh was in hospital
when she almost missed an urgent appointment at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank because CalMac were ‘not taking any bookings'.
‘I am not blaming the staff at either Brodick or Gourock, or on the boat, as they do a wonderful job and could not be more helpful when they can. But there is a something wrong with the system if CalMac cannot find a way to give priority bookings to islanders with urgent medical appointments.'
CalMac recently introduced a special policy for medical appointments where patients are guaranteed a space on the ferry and if CalMac can't fit their vehicle onto the ferry too then it provides a taxi to and from hospital.
But, as Isobel says, that is not any use when trying to visit her sick husband.
Isobel has already had interest in her house, but she is concerned potential buyers might themselves not be able to get booked on the ferry to come and view it.
‘It is with a heavy heart we are leaving the island, but there is no doubt the ferry situation is impacting on the lives of the people who live here and I don't how people on the island with cancer possibly cope.'
And Isobel is not alone. The Arran cancer charity ArCaS help cancer patients get to the mainland where they arrange transport to hospital appointments.
Chairman Douglas Johnston told the Banner: ‘Over these past many months there have been so many instances of our ArCaS patients being unable to secure passage on the ferry. This has a hugely negative impact on not only the patients but on their families.
‘At a very difficult point in their lives, our patients need to be able to depend on their care – which is often critical – and to face travel challenges is simply not helpful. In fact some of the situations we have seen have been shameful.
‘It is very hard to know where the problems with ferry bookings lie as I have found on a number of occasions the staff in Brodick have been very helpful.
‘Not everyone, however, can present themselves at the ticket office. Additional to the limited passenger capacity on the ferry has been the matter of service reliability – about which we know so much.
‘Even on Saturday, as I waited to board the 16.40 sailing, the rear ramp had issues and it took some time for the engineers to resolve the problem.
Yet another sign of aged and infirmity of the ferries.
‘We are going to be facing the issues of reliability for quite some time.'
Robert Morrison, operations director for CalMac said: ‘We work closely with the NHS on Arran to ensure that we can meet the needs of those travelling for medical reasons as best we can.
‘Following the Scottish Government announcement on Tuesday, we will retain turn up and go capacity on our routes and our capacities will return to pre-Covid amounts.
‘This will significantly increase our ability to carry additional foot passengers on most services.'