Renal patients at the Royal Free Hospital have complained that they wait up to several hours to be taken home after hospital treatment.

The patients are normally given transport to and from their homes when receiving dialysis.

After treatment, the patients are supposed to be taken home within an hour.

However, some patients report waiting at the hospital for several hours to be picked up.

Steven Paul Green, of Highcroft Road, goes to the hospital three times a week for treatment which lasts four hours.

He said: “We are supposed to be picked up and brought home within an hour. On numerous occasions I have had to wait from 5pm until 8pm, 9pm, or even 10pm to be picked up. One chap did not get home until 11.45pm.

“I am a wheelchair user and because the situation has become so bad, I have had to make my own way home by public transport, with great difficulty and risk to myself as I am currently in a manual wheelchair.”

A Royal Free spokeswoman said: “We are acutely aware of the delays some dialysis patients have been experiencing and we have written to all patients to apologise.

“There has been an exceptionally high demand for transport and we have been working hard to rectify the situation. We have reviewed our policies to ensure patients requiring the service have access to it and are working closely with the contractor of the service to ensure improvements are made.

“We have been, and will continue to, monitor the service very closely to ensure further improvements are made and sustained.”