A GRATEFUL woman is hoping to get in contact with the Good Samaritan who paid for her taxi home after she was discharged from hospital.

Jackie Parsons, 37, was rushed to Colchester General Hospital in the early hours of the morning after her ongoing knee condition became “agonisingly painful”.

When the ambulance crew arrived to Jackie’s home in Meadow Way Jaywick, she was in her pyjamas and did not have time to take spare clothing with her.

She was discharged from the hospital ten hours later, Jackie asked if the hospital provided transport home and said she was offered £8 for a bus or train.

Jackie said: “I was stuck in my pyjamas and looked a mess and there was nobody who was able to pick me up.”

Jackie spoke to a bus driver at one of the bus stops outside of the hospital and was told she would have to get a number of buses from Colchester to Clacton and then to Jaywick.

She said: “Everyone would have been doing their shopping for the day and I would have been in my pyjamas. I was really confused on what bus routes to take.”

Jackie said a woman approached her and asked why she was wearing pyjamas.

She said: “The woman said she could not let me get on a bus home after I’d been in hospital and was in my pyjamas.

“We found out a taxi home would cost £30 and the kind woman offered to pay for me and she went off a nearby cash machine and gave me the money.”

Jackie said the woman was called Wendy Bassett and said she she might work near or in the hospital.

Jackie said: “You don’t come across people like that often who offer you help.

“I would like to try to get in contact with her and take her for a coffee to thank her and give her the recognition she deserves.”

A spokesman for Colchester General Hospital said: “The Trust is here to use taxpayers’ money to provide health care services for the people of north east Essex, not transport services. When a patient is well enough to leave our emergency department, it is generally their responsibility to make the necessary arrangements.

“However, if they are waiting for a family member or friend to come to the hospital to collect them, they are welcome to remain here.

“In addition, we have a policy where the ambulance service will provide transport home to patients who meet certain criteria, such as people with mobility issues.

“If a patient says they have no way of getting home because there is no-one to collect them or because they have no money, our general office will provide them with cash to cover a bus fare.”

If you know Wendy Bassett please call 01255 254211.