Patient transport service report
A questionnaire was developed by Healthwatch Oldham and built on work done by some Greater Manchester LINks who had looked at patient transport in previous years. Nine local Healthwatch undertook the durvey as a joint piece of work.
Key findings
- 4500 paper surveys were distributed and 442 paper returns where received, a return rate of 10% - however eight surveys were blank and have been discounted from the report.
- 139 surveys were completed online.
- A total of 573 surveys were returned and included in this report.
- 402 people completed provided demographic data within the form.
- The older age groups were best represented with 27% of respondents being over 80 and 37% being in the 65-79 age bracket.
- 44% of respondents were female, 53% male.
- A total of 581 people responded to the survey, however eight surveys were returned blank, so results are based on 573 responses.
- 52% of respondents are regular users of the service, having used it 6 or more times in the last 12 months.
- At least 75% of people were attending an out-patient appointment.
- 43% of respondents said they were attending appointments in their local area – however, this is likely to be higher in reality because some people classed appointments that were in their local area as being in another area of GM, e.g. someone living in Leigh, classing Wigan as within GM rather than within local area.
- 55% said they were attending an appointment within Greater Manchester.
- A small number of people who attended appointments outside of Greater Manchester, mostly in Merseyside and Lancashire.
Recommendations
Information:
- The eligibility criteria need to be clearly communicated and advertised.
- Details of the booking process need to be clearly communicated and advertised.
- Service users need to be given clear information about the criteria for waiting times in order that they can accurately judge if they have been waiting too long for transport.
Safety, Quality and Accessibility of Service
- The telephone booking centres need to give consideration to patient’s frustrations and either ensure they are sufficiently well staffed at peak teams and/or give consideration to providing a choice of booking methods (text, online, telephone). 16 Healthwatch Greater Manchester Final Version 6 June 2014
- A thorough examination of waiting times needs to be made. Such an examination should consider the patients perspectives, the health care providers perspectives and frontline staff perspectives as well as considering recorded management data.
- Remedial action is required to ensure that appointments are not missed, and excessive waits for return transport do not continue to occur frequently.
- There are particular concerns about patients on dialysis who need regular, timed, life-saving treatment. It is our understanding that this group are covered by supplementary criteria in the contract, we recommend that the Commissioner makes a detailed examination of how the service is working for these patients and clear recommendations for improvements.
- The use of taxis as alternative patient transport should be avoided, where it is necessary to use a taxi, it should be a) with the consent of patients and b) ensure accessible vehicles.
Complaints
- Complaints process needs to be clearly explained and advertised in order that people can voice their concerns via the appropriate channels.
- A clear understanding of the procurement criteria for taxi firms needs to be made public.
Downloads
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Patient transport survey results
