A DISABLED pensioner was left waiting for 40 minutes while her family struggled to find her a wheelchair at the Oxford Cancer Centre, it has been claimed.

Mary Perrett, 87, from Kidlington, said the situation meant she nearly missed her appointment at the Churchill Hospital, where she has been receiving treatment for cancer.

Mrs Perrett was left stranded in the car park while her son-in-law scoured the hospital to find a wheelchair to get her into the building.

Although the great-grandmother has a walking frame, her treatment means she cannot walk more than a few steps without becoming very tired.

Mrs Perrett said her family was told by a member of staff at the hospital that wheelchairs were being stolen.

She added: “I had recently had an operation up there and had to go back for a check-up.

“We had already been driving around and around trying to find a car parking space.

“I was very worried, because if you miss your appointment, that’s it – they don’t wait for you.

“We eventually found one (parking space), but it was a long way away from the hospital and there was no way I could have walked, as I’m quite disabled.

“When my son-in-law went to find a wheelchair he was told there weren’t any, because they were being stolen.

“I was outraged, I mean, how low can you get?’ A spokesman for the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Churchill Hospital, denied wheelchairs were being stolen and added: “In a busy hospital, there’s always a demand for wheelchairs and normally there’s an adequate number available.

“Sometimes, however, there will be peaks in demand and that can unfortunately mean that a patient may not be provided with one immediately.

“We apologise if this was the case in this particular instance.”

Mrs Perrett said: “Well if they’re not being stolen (wheelchairs), where on earth are they?

“I have no problem with my treatment at the hospital – I couldn’t have been treated any better if I was royalty.

“But they know people need these chairs to get to their appointments, especially if you have to park so far away.”

On Monday we reported that Labour county councillor Liz Brighouse was concerned about cars being parked on grass verges by patients and visitors to the Cancer Centre, because of a lack of parking spaces.

But the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust said the number of parking spaces provided for the Churchill site was about 1,300, and the amount of people using the new centre had not “significantly” increased.

A spokesman added that an extension of the No 700 hospitals park-and-ride bus from Water Eaton, near Kidlington, to bring the buses into the Churchill site, was due to start operating on Monday, July 13.

awilliams@oxfordmail.co.uk