Shake-up in hospital transport regulations

Non-emergency ambulances, provided by the Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS), take over 100,000 patients to hospital appointments across the region annually, but a review ordered by NHS East Riding and NHS Hull found over a third ended up being late for their appointments.

A series of knock-on effects included hospitals having to pay for taxis due to ambulance delays or cancellations and staff having to stay on after their shifts to help patients find lifts home. Some patients – including the elderly, disabled and diabetic – were having to wait up to five hours to be picked up.

NHS East Riding and NHS Hull are giving the YAS another year to improve or face losing the contract next year.

Health managers say they are reintroducing eligibility criteria to ensure only people who need the service use it.

Julia Mizon, assistant director of contracting and performance for NHS Hull, said some people could have made their own way to appointments. She added: “Essentially, we’re looking to hand the service back to those for whom it was originally intended.”

A patient is deemed eligible if their medical condition requires the support of staff throughout the journey, also if

the patient’s health might suffer if they were to travel by other means, or

their medical condition affects their mobility to such an extent that they could not get to hospital without the service.

Sarah Fatchett, director of the patient transport service at YAS, said they were also setting up an automated service to call patients 48 hours before they travel, and using local authority transport during their quiet periods.

The service’s performance will be monitored over the next 12 months.