A fed-up mum who claims she has suffered serious injuries during a string of incidents involving Epsom and St Helier’s patient transport service is taking legal action.

Michelle Monteith-Miller, 47, alleges a bruised coccyx, right shoulder problems and whiplash are among the injuries she has sustained since problems began in December 2016.

The mum-of-three has written multiple times to Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust, and also launched a complaint, which went as far as a meeting with the trust last April about the issues.

But it was when she had to be collected for a bowel procedure at Epsom Hospital, on March 25 this year, that she allegedly suffered whiplash during a particular incident.

Mrs Monteith-Miller said she was being transferred into the stairclimber but, when it “dropped” past one step and “missed” another, she screamed and grabbed a wooden railing to stop herself from falling.

The mum claimed to have suffered pain in her neck, head, and back as a result, before her GP told her she had whiplash, stiffness in her neck and bruising to her coccyx.

The alleged problems with Epsom and St Helier’s patient transport service means her husband and one of their two sons are missing work.

“It’s going round and round in circles,” she told Epsom Comet.

“April 20 last year, in the meeting they told me my husband and my son will not have to take any more time off work because they will be training 116 of their staff and they will be confident enough to take me down the stairs.

“Since the trust took over last year in April 2018, that’s all I’ve done, just complain about their staff – not being trained, not knowing how to use the stairclimber.

“Not just dropping me, but even having the stairclimber too high, and it’s only supposed to be low, and then bumping me down the stairs in the stairclimber. That’s not how it works.”

The NHS trust said it was “absolutely committed to providing the very best care in a compassionate way” and is sorry Mrs Monteith-Miller has had to complain.

It confirmed the complainant has begun the litigation in two cases, both of which are being dealt with by the external organisations responsible for patient transport services and, as such, can’t comment on them specifically.

Epsom and St Helier added: “However, we can confirm that the trust is currently investigating one formal complaint made by Ms Monteith-Miller, and will be responding to the issues she has raised very shortly.

“We take concerns and complaints very seriously and use these to improve and make changes to our services.”