'Unsung heroes' - Edinburgh school bus fleet repurposed during Covid to help city's most vulnerable, delivering first vaccine doses to nearly 70 care homes

Over the last 11 months, Edinburgh City Council’s travel hub has delivered a raft of essentials to those in need, from food parcels and medications to Google Chromebooks and wifi infrastructure for disadvantaged children to learn from home.

In recent weeks, the team has been working with NHS Lothian and other community groups to focus more on taking nurses and vaccines to care homes in the city, as well as supporting the housebound vaccination programme which started last week.

Normally, the buses would be used to transport children with additional support needs from home to school, or adults with learning difficulties and older people to lunch clubs or day centres.

The travel hub boasts a fleet of about 80 buses and about 120 drivers and bus passenger assistants have been involved in their re-focused distribution during the past year.

Gillian Tracey, travel hub operations manager, said: “It’s been absolutely fantastic and I am really proud to see we have had zero transmission - not one infected person at work.

“They have really taken on board how important their new roles are and the commitment to helping more vulnerable people in Edinburgh.”

The buses are also used to support the overnight care at home service by providing emergency transport for carers who might struggle to get to vital home visits to vulnerable adults, particularly when heavy snow affects people living in rural parts.

Last year, the council also worked with NHS Lothian to deliver medications - including cancer drugs - out of hours to people across the Lothians who were being asked to self-isolate due to presenting Covid symptoms.

Council staff can also call upon the fleet if someone is showing symptoms at work and needs to be taken home without having to use public transport, and there is a specially adapted bus for safe Covid testing to be carried out.

Drivers have also been delivering Chromebook laptops and dongles - allowing wireless internet connection - to the homes of the most disadvantaged families in Edinburgh. About 90 families are thought to have benefited from this in the city.

One of those drivers is Alan Smith, who says: “It’s a case of the council making a small contribution to bridging the digital divide and providing young children with an opportunity to connect with their schools and continue with their home learning. From the perspective of the drivers, we are delighted we could play a small part in that.

“We’ve had moments on doorsteps when you could see youngsters were absolutely overjoyed at receiving the equipment. They have been provided with what they needed to open up a world of education.

“It’s a fantastic initiative. I do genuinely think that anything that helps bridge the gap, particularly in an affluent city like Edinburgh, is good for all of us. It’s probably one of these occasions when the council should really be given a very big pat on the back.”

Public messages of thanks have been flowing in during recent weeks, with one person saying they were “blown away” at being accepted for a Chromebook delivery.

First lockdown

During the first lockdown, the travel hub contacted the Edinburgh Voluntary Organisation Council who managed the government grant for food parcels, and also helped distribute medication to people shielding who would not normally have their prescriptions delivered.

Drivers and assistants transported children to key worker hubs and delivered PPE supplies and sanitisers to schools across the Capital.

Ms Tracey said: “We did that last year for a few months and things got back to normal a bit and we focused again on home to school transport, and then things (Covid second wave) came back around.”

Other organisations have had time to implement plans to deliver food parcels and medications but, with the help of six community transport groups, the team have this year focused their efforts on picking up nurses at hospital sites in the city and taking them to administer vaccines in care homes and in the homes of those who are housebound.

Ms Tracey said their operation has “ramped up” in recent weeks and, with first doses administered to 67 care homes in the city, about eight or nine buses are running each day to enable jags at people’s homes.

She also praised her five transport supervisors, who coordinate the requests they receive on a daily basis, stating that their flexibility and demand response skills have been “a credit” to the council over the past year.

Councillor Ian Perry, Education, Children and Families convener, said: “Our home to school transport drivers would usually be taking thousands of young people to school every week but with the majority of pupils learning from home they’ve re-focussed their efforts to help the most vulnerable in our communities.

“Their work and commitment supporting those residents in need of healthcare and education support during the pandemic is outstanding and we’re all really proud of everything they’re doing.”

Councillor Alison Dickie, Education, Children and Families vice convener, said: “This pandemic is proving really challenging for many residents in Edinburgh and they’ve been handed a real lifeline by our home to school transport teams who have been driving all over the city helping vulnerable people when they need it the most.

“Whether it’s delivering Chromebooks to school pupils, going out in the height of the snow storms to support our Overnight Care at Home Service staff or delivering vaccines to care homes - they really are our unseen heroes of the pandemic response.”

The travel hub has still been transporting hundreds of additional support needs pupils and key workers to schools during the current lockdown.

Their main depot is located in Peffer Place, close to Duddingston Golf Club.

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