Give transport back to NHS, says union

A UNION says non-emergency patient transport in Hull should be handed back to the NHS, after a private company had notice served on its contract, weeks after being rated “inadequate”.

In February the Care Quality Commission (CQC) gave Thames Ambulance Service Ltd (TASL) its lowest rating. The CQC said it had “visibly unclean” vehicles, did not have the right equipment to transport children and had not trained all its staff properly.

Hull Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said its contract with TASL would be terminated in a year’s time.

Its board had made its decision due to “persistent underdelivery” of the contract’s key performance indicators and its inadequate rating.

Unison regional officer Ray Gray, who argued against the contract being awarded to TASL two years ago, said he had already asked Hull CCG’s chief officer Emma Latimer for it to go back to the NHS.

He said; “There were issues with the station, with staff and the vehicles. They put them right and they dropped back again. We had to talk to them again.

“You can’t run a service like that – it has to be consistent and I think the NHS is the right place for it to be.”

It comes as Kent-based Savoy Ventures Ltd takes over from TASL today, after being served notice by North Lincolnshire

CCG a year ago.

Savoy’s chief executive Brian Wren said: “The company has targeted a number of new contracts specifically where we believe we can make a difference and we are delighted to have been awarded the contract for non-emergency patient transport in North Lincolnshire.”

Patients’ bookings will be automatically transferred to Savoy Ventures.