Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
1,700 complaints in a year about patient transport
Security firm G4S has received “unprecedented levels” of complaints after taking over Kent and Medway’s private ambulance service, according to a report.
Medway Clinical Commissioning Group, which plans and pays for primary health services, has called for urgent action from the firm.
Its patient transport team received more than 1,700 complaints in a year.
The firm provides free nonemergency transport for people who are unable to get to and from hospitals in Kent and Medway any other way.
It took over the £90 million contract at the start of July last year, when troubled previous operators NSL opted not to seek a contract renewal.
Between July 2016 and this July, G4S received 1,774 complaints, with 1,170 of these relating to timeliness of journeys for outpatient appointments.
A performance report discussed by Medway Council on Tuesday shows G4S has not been meeting key targets.
The council has been told vehicles and staff are not always sufficient to meet demand.
G4S previously admitted teething problems and in March said it was mobilising more staff to deal with a greater than expected demand. One patient reported missing an appointment she had waited a year for, while the family of a terminally-ill man said he was left waiting for more than a day to be taken home from hospital.
The performance report, published by Medway CCG, said: “We are concerned about the unprecedented level of complaints regarding the service and the way in which G4S is handling and responding to complaints.”
“The commissioners sought urgent action to rectify the common themes emerging from complaints and to improve the complaints process so they are managed in a timely and professional manner.”
The CCG issued G4S with a notice to improve in July.
An action plan was drawn up which includes a review of the complaints policy, revising the complaints process and improving reporting and response times.
Progress is being monitored and as of August 21, 60% of the actions had been completed.
The remaining actions were expected to be completed by the end of this month.
Russell Hobbs, the managing director for non-emergency patient transport services at G4S, said: “We have experienced high demand for non-emergency patient transport services and have taken steps to improve patient awareness of the complaints procedure.
In August we provided 28,681 journeys across Kent and there were 38 formal complaints raised, which represents less than 1% of the total journeys undertaken.
“We take every single complaint seriously and thoroughly investigate each concern that is raised.
“We have also improved the way we handle complaints when they are received, including training additional staff.
“We continue to work with all clinical commissioning groups in Kent to ensure that together we can provide the resource required to meet the growing demand for this vital service.”