Taxi blow adds to care woe
Patients late for surgeries miss medical visits due to no-show ACC-funded taxis
More than 20 people have come forward with complaints about ACC-funded taxis, including being left stranded and in pain for rides that arrived hours late or not at all. Many reported missing vital medical and surgical appointments. A teacher is among those who say they were often late for work because of lengthy delays.
ACC has apologised to those let down, and says changes will be made including stricter GPS monitoring of trips, and a review of how much work certain taxi companies are given.
It contracts companies such as Taxi Transport Consortium, which includes Auckland’s Alert Taxis, and has about 70 subcontractors.
This month a front-page Herald story detailed the experience of an Auckland resident who broke his ankle and found ACC-funded taxis to get to physio appointments and work were often late or didn’t show up. In one case that provider invoiced ACC for a trip it never arrived for — the corporation’s integrity services unit is now investigating.
In response, Herald readers have provided similar accounts, including a woman who was still charged by a private surgeon after she missed an appointment due to a late taxi.
A man who is legally blind added 30 minutes to the pick-up time but was still late for “extremely hard-to-come-by” specialist appointments, which he knows “puts further strain on a health system already at breaking point”.
The unreliability of taxis was “horrendously stressful”, said a woman reliant on them after a severe concussion. “When your life is completely out of control due to a life-changing injury, it is so upsetting to never be collected or be waiting with no idea of when you’ll be picked up.”
Claire Herring, 34, broke her ankle in May, and relied on
Alert Taxis. That included travel from Kumeū , West Auckland, to and from her workplace on the North Shore, and for medical appointments.
She was 90 minutes late for one appointment at Westgate Medical Centre after a taxi didn’t turn up and she eventually Ubered, she said.
After another no-show, a woman helping her at home drove her to an important medical appointment.
From May to July, her work taxis were badly late more than 10 times, she said, including one booked for 6am that arrived at 7.30am.
Herring said that after instances of dangerous driving she insisted on switching to Blue Bubble taxis, which were punctual.
Manurewa resident Linda Ross, 63, ruptured her Achilles tendon in 2022 and was in a moon boot and on crutches for six months.
She needed taxis to get to medical appointments, but these were often late or didn’t turn up. She would wait at her gate on crutches, and a couple of times she hobbled 200m up the road to catch a bus instead.
“When it’s hard to get medical appointments, you have to keep them . . . I missed so many.”
One winter evening she waited 90 minutes outside a closed medical centre for a taxi due at 6pm, she said.
Georgina O’Brien, of Harrowfield, Hamilton, said taxis to get her to a physiotherapist for a wrist broken in July were late or didn’t turn up, which made her “so anxious”.
The 64-year-old didn’t complain because she was “too stressed and exhausted” by her injury.
In August, Paul Leydon nearly missed his shoulder surgery at Ascot Hospital in Greenlane after a taxi booked to collect the 69-year-old
When it’s hard to get medical appointments, you have to keep them . . . I missed so many.
from Glendowie at 8am didn’t arrive until 9am, his admission time.
“I asked the driver what the problem was and he said he was only given the job at 8.30am.”
After that, Leydon relied on a neighbour to get to physio visits. He said a complaint to the taxi company and ACC wasn’t responded to.
Three Herald readers emailed to say they had only positive experiences with ACC-funded taxis, and the corporation’s deputy chief executive for corporate and finance, Stewart McRobie, said most of the 420,000 funded trips a year were on time.
“However, we know that for some clients, this is not their experience, and we understand and apologise for the frustration and stress this creates.”
“Areas for further improvement” had been identified, McRobie said, including “assessing the allocation of work to each taxi provider”, using GPS data to monitor trips and establishing an automated booking service.
People will, where appropriate, be able to choose which contracted taxi company they use, McRobie said, and there would be a focus on “improving key performance indicators [KPIs] and reporting to drive better client outcomes”.
“Client feedback is routinely discussed with our suppliers, and we have already met with the Taxi Transport Consortium to discuss the specific concerns raised by some clients about their recent experiences,” McRobie said.
ACC has previously told people they have to lodge complaints with the service provider. However, now McRobie said: “We encourage clients to contact us directly if their taxi is late or has not shown up.”
Taxi Transport Consortium director Luccidessa Ford said the group was committed to providing the best possible service, “but also acknowledge we do not always get it right”.
“TTC recognise where we have failed to meet the level of service expected, and deserved, by the clients entrusted in our care, and are committed to learning from these experiences, showing improvement moving forward.”
Ford said “dispatching parameters” had been changed in response to the feedback.
“As an organisation, we are driven by the desire to improve, learn and grow with our operations team engaging with dedicated local partners nationwide, who do an extraordinary job, consistently performing exceptionally well.”
ACC spent more than $35 million last year on taxi rides for clients, more than $8m up on 2022, largely due to a fare increase to cover petrol prices.
Linda Ross, Manurewa patient