Non Emergency Patient Transport Services Engagement Activity

Our engagement on Non-Emergency Patient Transport Services has been a rich experience. Feedback from service users has revealed their experiences of using both NHS non-emergency patient transport and voluntary and community transport, with examples from the recent and more historic past. Whilst the level of feedback represents only a small proportion of the total number of journeys undertaken by local NHS Patient Transport Services, the scope of responses has been broad. This has helped us better understand aspects of transport services that are most important to patients and helped generate ideas as to how we can better meet patients’ needs.

All engagement feedback is helping us think about and shape services for the future and we are incredibly grateful to everyone who has shared their time with us, especially during such an exceptional year. With the local service due to be re-commissioned next year, the engagement activities have been an opportunity to learn from service users and inform the development of a new specification. In the meantime, we will continue to work with the current provider, who continually works with us to review the service and make appropriate changes where necessary.

For clarity, the current contract and the associated engagement programme, excludes Renal services and the Surrey Downs area transport and does not reflect contractual performance. You can continue to send us feedback by completing our online survey.

Workshops for staff in June and July 2022

We have heard about staff experiences of booking Patient Transport or of witnessing the experiences of patients within services who use Patient Transport.  We sought input from staff working across all facets of the system - in community, acute, mental health, social care and other relevant settings – in regard to the following touch points:  

  • Eligibility, Booking and Reimbursement
  • Outpatient and community appointments - patients requiring transport to an acute or community setting without staying there overnight
  • Inpatient/ED appointments - patients requiring transport to an acute setting for an ED appointment or an overnight stay
  • Frequent planned appointments - patients requiring transport to a medical setting offering them ongoing care e.g. dialysis, cancer care, infusion
  • Mental Health appointments - patients requiring transport who cannot travel independently or for whom it is safest to convey them via a specialist NEPT service

Surrey NPTS Staff Engagement Workshops Report June 2022 [pdf] 340KB

Engagement activity during January to March 2021

Service User Survey

Based on the themes that emerged at our Round Tables late last year, we ran a User Survey from January to March. It was a quick, online survey of multiple choice questions, with comments sections, for service users and their carers and families. The survey closed on Sunday 7th March 2021. A summary of the feedback is in the document below.

Focus Groups and 1-1 Interviews

We have also held a number of focus groups and interviews with specific service user groups to better understand their needs. These groups include wheelchair users, learning disabled adults, older people, and users with visual impairments. A summary of their feedback is in the document below.

Engagement in November and December 2020

NHS and Care Staff Survey

During November and December 2020 we shared a quick survey with NHS and care staff, through hospitals, care staff and care home newsletters, and GP practices to understand what improvements professionals who support patients to access patient transport services would like to see. We received 55 responses. The summary of feedback is available in the document below.

Round Tables

In November and December 2020, the PTS procurement team for Surrey Heartlands CCG held five Round Table events to hear feedback on current PTS services from a variety of NHS and clinical colleagues and leaders from a range of community groups. The events were aimed at supporting the identification of key themes and issues, strengths and opportunities and potential solutions and next steps before undertaking focused engagement with service users in 2021. The sessions were informal and groups were small to allow for qualitative discussion time.

A Frequently Asked Questions document summarises the key points asked by attendees of these sessions.

Engagement in November 2020 to March 2021

A summary of the engagement undertaken is available in the report below: