My elderly mother was transported by ambulance yesterday to the hospital ($65) for an emergency. While there she rang me to discuss getting back home to Papamoa. I heard her ask a nurse to call the Health Shuttle (free St John service) of which the nurse said she would. 5 hrs later my mother rings me from home in Papamoa. I ask how she got there. She said a nurse had rung me but there was no answer so she got a taxi ($61). There were no phone calls made to either my mobile or landline and no phone calls to the Health Shuttle - hence my mother having to get a taxi. What is going on here??? she is on a pension, cannot afford ambulance or taxi fares!!! Tauranga hospital is a joke. I've had personal experience where I drove myself to the hospital due to an anxiety attack. I was placed in a wheelchair and stuck in a corner of A&E without anyone coming to see me. When I was able to get up and walk, I just walked out. You are just pathetic Tauranga hospital, pathetic.