Does this sound like a good business idea?

[Ketley67]

I live in a rural location with a population of 50K residents. Local hospital is 20 miles away. Public transport is a nightmare.

My Mum is currently having a lot of appointments and it’s made me realise just how difficult it is to attend these without support.

Im thinking of setting up a taxi service where I pick you up, take you to the appointment, accompany you in the waiting room and then bring you home again.

I’m thinking id charge a set amount per appointment eg. Cost of mileage and then X amount on top, so maybe £40 total.

The NHS does provide hospital transport but you have to be approved for it so not everyone is eligible.

What do you think? Good idea?

depending on how long the appointment takes, £40 would make a very low wage per hour

There's a national franchise that offers this. Seems a bit rude to advertise your potential competition on this thread, but PM me if you like.

I'd say there was definitely a market for it but it may not be cost effective - don't forget to factor in the cost of car parking at the hospital (if you can actually find somewhere to park!)

I think it's illegal to offer a taxi service unless you are registered with the Council as a taxi service. You have to register, get DBS, get full insurance, etc, etc. There would be a lot of overhead cost.

Could you buy an annual hospital parking pass?

you might beat the national franchise if you make a local name for yourself. Word of mouth powerful.

Why does every single post that’s put on mumsnet get an arsey reply? Seriously I don’t understand it? I’ve literally just got home from yet another hospital appointment with my dying mum and thought there must be patients out there who could do with some support with their appointments from a friendly face. I’m not advertising anything!! I’ve had an idea that’s all. Just fuck off.

Good points, would definitely need to do some research!

Good idea, thankyou.

I think you need to re-read this and apologise to the poster

blimey where did that come from?

I was just trying to be supportive to your potential future business by not giving a free plug to others who might already be operating in your area.

If I were thinking of setting up a business I think it would be useful to start by researching who is already offering it and how much they charge.

Sorry that is such a heinous crime. Fucking right off as ordered.

I think @drachh was being helpful and suggesting that she would not name them on your thread but would give you the name of the franchise privately so you can look them up and find out what your potential competitors offer. I think it was a kind offer.

I don’t think @drachh was saying you were rude. They were informing you politely of another franchise that offers this and were saying they won’t be rude by posting the name of it on this thread so pm them if you want to find out more…..

There’s a community charity in my town that do this. You pay an annual subscription and then they will take you to appointments if you need it. Peace of mind that your poorly or elderly relatives can call a friendly person who will “sort out transport.”

I don’t think they aim to turn a profit. They use volunteer drivers. It was invaluable for my mum to get to physio appointments in particular. They were constantly busy so driver often didnt wait - as would do a couple of drops and pickups on a single trip around and about.

Sorry @drachh cross posted. Not surprised you are cross.

The insurance costs for this would be high if you did it legitimately. I also think you should apologise to the poster you just told to f* off.

Do you always speak like that to people who kindly offer you help?

You've completely misunderstood her kind post.

Not sure you’re quite the ‘friendly’ face people would want at a hospital appointment. 😮

It might be a good idea but, to make it a successful business, I think you'd have to charge much more than most people would be willing or able to pay.

Telling a pp to fuck off was unnecessary. Especially when she was kind enough to invite you to send her a PM.

Assuming you’re stressed out about your mum and finding a place to put your worry and sadness. No, this isn’t a good business idea. You wouldn’t even hit minimum wage, and the purpose of a business is to make money. If you want to volunteer your time, by all means do.

Is that not basically a carer or personal assistant? Think someone who drives clients to the supermarket and accompanies them. Except you’d be doing it only to medical appointments. I think the challenge would be insurance and also making sure you are up on things like first aid (you will have some have a hypo or a seizure or a mental health crisis in your care) and also you are very well schooled on data protection because you will be privy to people’s personal health data, even just accompanying to the waiting area.

I think the challenge will be finding that niche market who needs you and can also afford you. I have a lot of hospital appointments and live rurally an hour from the hospital. I’m a very financially comfortable working person and I wouldn’t pay £40 an hour for someone to take me to an appointment. For one, it would be, what, £120 for one appointment, at a minimum. That’s quite a lot for someone on a limited income unless they are wealthy.

I’m so sorry drach, I read your post entirely wrongly, I thought you were telling me that I was being rude. Please accept my apologies! Im (obviously) on a very short fuse at the moment and I’ve seen such awful responses on mumsnet over the years I jumped to the wrong conclusion. Very sorry.

In our area there is a scheme like this in different villages. It is run by volunteers and the users do pay but is no where near as much as what a taxi would be. Sometimes you can just pay what you can afford. They also come to to the appointment to help if needed.

😆 good point! I promise I’m not usually so horrible!🙈