Suffolk Community Transport are presently asking all their members to write a joint letter to all senior people in NHS Suffolk and the Suffolk Ambulance Trust.
I believe it provides a concise summary of the current issues and I would concur with its aims because through the Transport Minister the CTA have already raised the issue of Non-Emergency Patient Transport with the Health Minister on two separate occasions. Both times the CTA have been informed that this is a local issue.
Dear.............
I am writing at request of members of Suffolk Community Transport, an umbrella group supporting the 19 individual community transport operators in the county. I have been tasked with making you aware of the extremely serious transport difficulties being encountered by patients who have been denied transport by the East of England ambulance call centre and have then been passed from “pillar to post”. As a result of the changes in the NHS transport policy more and more patients are turning to community transport operators for a solution. By the time they contact their local community transport operator, many patients are extremely distressed and far too often in tears at end of a phone.
We are seeing a rapidly growing number of patients who are unable to get to hospital and are considering not attending appointments. Many have been advised, often rudely, by the call centre to use a taxi which is well beyond their means. The short term effect of this must surely be increased costs for NHS due to “no show" for appointments and in longer term a risk of more serious health problems to be dealt with as a result of earlier non attendance.
The manner in which the “Single Point of Assessment for Hospital Transport” has been developed and implemented has resulted in an enormous growth in demand on community transport. A level of demand which is outstripping the capacity of many of our members by placing unrealistic demands on volunteers.
Our members fully understand and appreciate the need for the NHS to save money. They also realise that there have been patients who have abused the system by asking for, and being provided with, free transport when they were perfectly capable of making their own arrangements. We do not believe that open ended free transport is a solution but we really must find effective working solutions if we are to solve the problems. Unfortunately community transport in isolation cannot provide the solution to this serious and growing problem.
Therefore, Suffolk Community Transport is suggesting an early meeting in order to explore the problems that have been created. We would like to see if there is a way in which community transport in Suffolk can work effectively with NHS Suffolk to minimise and reduce the growing problem.
I would stress this is not a request for funding. Simply throwing money at the problems will not produce a workable solution. We have the vehicles, we have volunteers and we have commitment but we need co-operation in order to organise and manage the problem(s) as a whole.
This is not the first request we have made for a meeting with NHS representatives. Unfortunately, the previous approaches have been largely ignored, which has resulted in situation getting worse. This serious issue can not be left to continue to spiral out of control, as to put it bluntly the health of some the most vulnerable people in our society is being put at risk and a solution needs to be found as a matter of urgency.
We sincerely hope you share our concerns and agree to attend a meeting to discuss how we can work together to provide a positive solution to the issue.
Yours faithfully
John Phillips
(Trustee of Suffolk Community Transport)
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