I have been ill recently and had to get to specialist clinic so had arranged hospital patient transport as I was too poorly to get there alone.
I was met by a a large ambulance type transport vehicle accompanied by two men one driving and one in the back. The one driving did most of the talking.
When I got out at the end I wasn't feeling great so it was decided to put me into a wheel chair. As I lowered myself into the wheelchair which was going fine, the louder of the two men held the right side of my chest and pressed his fingers in which pressed into the right side of my breast. I immediately flinched and felt instinctively and instantly very uncomfortable and immediately withdrew. I didn't say anything ( mostly I was ill and in the process of trying to get into a wheelchair) after which he took his hand away and I was wheeled towards my apartment. However I did not allow him to assist me further as this might have meant more touching to do up belts across my chest etc What got me was that when he did this I was not remotely unstable infact I was almost fully in the chair. Further I am also trained in manual handling of unwell patients as it is part of my job and am very aware that holding a patient with one hand underneath one armpit/side of chest is completely the incorrect way of handling a patient and in fact more likely to put them off balance than help- (the correct way for this transfer is to support them by standing infront stabilising the chair and taking weight evenly on both hands assisting the person into the chair- and only if they are not balancing or unable to do it for themselves. rather than attempting to "take the weight" by grabbing one side of them. Once inside my building he touched my upper back and sides a few more times as I made my way into my apartment, again even though I was not remotely unsteady and had no need of these "touches" which are nothing to do with patient transferring in any case. The episode has been playing on my mind and I have been turning over whether his touching was inappropriate. If I decide that is was not I want to do something about it rather than dwell on it as it has got under my skin and don't want it to stay there and change me in anyway. Wondering what others would do?