David has been volunteering for Westbank for over seven years as a Community Transport Driver, supporting people to return home following discharge from hospital or to attend their local appointments.

David always makes himself available on a ‘just ask’ basis. David leads a particularly active life and is always busy doing something or other; either out on a walk, busy digging in his allotment, painting fences or decorating his house. It is not unknown for David to be balancing on a wheelbarrow whilst taking patients' details down for a hospital discharge drive. David is most definitely a ‘Yes I can-do’ person, often rescheduling what he has planned, to support our Community Transport service. Nothing seems to be too much trouble for David!

David is happy to travel long distances and is well known within the Community Transport team due to his love of outdoor pursuits, as he will go anywhere and has lots of knowledge of remote areas within the county, such as Dartmoor, for example.

David is one of our few drivers who does so without the use of a Sat Nav, instead relying on his extensive local knowledge of Devon.  Often, the Transport Services team will point him in the right direction, and then he says, ‘Yes, I know exactly where it is!’

Not only does David drive patients home from hospital and get them settled in safely, he also takes patients registered at Exminster and Starcross GP surgeries to their medical appointments, or shopping for essentials. David also routinely collects equipment from hospitals and delivers it to the patients’ addresses so that they can live with more independence.

David says of his volunteering role at Westbank Community Health and Care, "The act of volunteering provides an opportunity to put something back into the community, and enables me to derive great satisfaction in so doing".