Reporting to the Health Scrutiny Committee - Patient Transport Services
Three Reports
The Brighton and Hove Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) has a remit to scrutinise social care and education issues relating to both adults and children. They met on 28th February 2018 and received our report on Patient Transport Service (PTS).
They also received an updated report from South Central Ambulance Services (SCAS) who now provide Patient Transport Services (PTS) across the whole of Sussex, and from the joint Sussex Clinical Commissing Groups (CCG's), who Commission this £64.5m contract.
Staring to Improve
Our latest report indicates that patient satisfaction with PTS services has finally started to improve. We are pleased to report that satisfaction levels increased by 10%, up from 75% in May 2017 to 85% by December 2017 across Sussex, and up 17% from 67% to 84% for patients interviewed by Healthwatch Brighton and Hove.
David Liley, our Chief Officer commented on these improvements:
"It is good to see patient satisfaction and confidence in patient transport services improving. SCAS are now achieving patient satisfaction levels similar to, or greater than, two years ago when South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) held this contract."
Our report went on to reveal that despite improved patient satisfaction SCAS are still failing to meet some of its key performance indicators and there are still persistent and unresolved issues with service quality that continues concerns some patients.
Concerns
Three issues of concern to patients have remained unresolved since Healthwatch started to closely monitor patient experience of PTS in 2016:
- Unreliable service for some renal patients on Saturdays
- Transport failing to always meet mobility needs e.g. those using wheelchair and/or stretchers
- Inconsistent pick up and drop off arrangements, and a failure to keep patients advised of any changes.
Sussex-wide
Over the last 2 years, local Healthwatch across Sussex, have been speaking with patients about their experiences of using non-emergency transport services. These services are essential to many people receiving renal and cancer treatments, and a range of other outpatient treatments.
A fully updated Sussex-wide PTS report is due to be published soon. In response to the continued monitoring of PTS by Healthwatch, SCAS and the CCG Commissioners told the Brighton and Hove HOSC that they would be establishing Patient Forums across Sussex and that local Healthwatch would be invited to take part. We very much welcome this move and will continue to actively monitor PTS performance over the coming months and years to ensure that it meets the needs of patients.
Read the Reports
You can read our full report here:
Patient Transport Services Report for HOSC
Access all the reports presented at HOSC:
All Reports from HOSC - 28th February 2018
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