A lack of buses in the Teifi Valley has seen demand for a community transport scheme soar.

Voluntary service, Dolen Teifi in Ceredigion, said it was helping more people get to hospital than ever before, and blamed the lack of transport in rural areas.

This year Dolen Teifi has made nearly 50,000 journeys, of which 10,000 were for health reasons. But it was unable to undertake more than 2,000 requests in the year, and half of those were to do with health.

John Hands, one of its 783 volunteer drivers, said: "Since they've cut the buses over the years, the demand for this kind of transport has gone up."

He has been volunteering with Dolen Teifi for more than 20 years, travelling across Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Swansea. He said that now most of his journeys were hospital appointments, including John and Joan's trips to Prince Phillip Hospital.

"I feel that I'm getting a bit tired, and also the demand is increasing all the time."

Speaking to BBC News, John and Joan Barrington Powell from Llandysul said the voluntary service was a lifeline enabling them to reach hospital appointments in Llanelli, around 40 miles away, which costs them around £50 a time.

John said: "Since the bus services got worse, we have to use them [Dolen Teifi]," he said. "It's either that or a private taxi which would be more expensive.

"At one time we used the ambulances, but we couldn't rely on them and Joan has to come with me and she couldn't go on the ambulances."

While ambulances are available to take patients to health appointments, only the patient can travel.

The Community Transport Association (CTA) said the demand had increased across Wales.

"We know that our members are delivering nearly a million journeys a year and more than 60% of those journeys go to a health destination," said Gemma Lelliot, director of CTA Wales, which wants people with bus passes to have a discount on community transport.

"Community transport has always fallen in between the cracks, it's not considered to be part of health and social care," she said.

"It's not considered to be part of the mainstream transport network and so there isn't that core funding element for it."

A Welsh government spokesperson said non-emergency transport was available for patients with a specific medical need, with planning and funding down to the NHS Wales Joint Commissioning Committee.

It also said a new bus Bill to be brought forward in the Senedd would "put people before profit".

"To help smooth the transition towards bus franchising we've invested £64m this year to make improvements to our existing networks first."