Total Transport: A Better Approach to Commissioning Non-Emergency Patient Transport?

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Today, Community Transport Association (CTA) and Urban Transport Group (UTG) are launching our joint briefing, Total Transport: a better approach to commissioning non-emergency patient transport?

Read the report here

What is in the report?

Currently there are 37 Total Transport Pilots in England which are enabling local authorities to explore new ways of delivering integrated transport services.  The Pilots have been particularly focussed on health and school transport.   You can find some of our thoughts on Total Transport here.

Working alongside UTG, CTA has looked at the provision of non-emergency patient transport (NEPT), and explored how NEPT is currently commissioned and how a Total Transport approach could lead to improvements in efficiency, value for money and passenger experience.

Within this report we highlight a more coordinated, cross sector Total Transport approach to the provision of patient transport could help ensure that patients are provided with vehicles suited to their needs; that fleets owned or commissioned by the public sector are fully utilised; and that patients get to and from where they need to be in a timely manner.

Why are CTA involved in this research?

Total Transport is about pooling resources, and using local expertise to deliver services that are better coordinated, integrated and more efficient.

The involvement of charities providing transport has been a long-standing benefit to the health service and patients. CTA’s own “State of the Sector” research has consistently shown that journeys into health settings are the second largest purpose given for using community transport.

Yet we are aware that much of this will be off the radar of health service commissioners, evidenced by the disconnection between the number of charities helping people to reach health settings and those that are remunerated for the work by those commissioners. CTA’s survey in 2014 found 74 per cent of operators in England worked in health settings but only 24 per cent were remunerated by any local NHS body.

Which is why CTA wanted to champion the importance of Community Transport and those members who are already delivering more efficient use of vehicles, which not only provide a better experience for patients but are making significant savings to the public purse.

This briefing should be used as a tool for community transport operators across the country to discuss how they can play a role in delivering NEPT in their area.

What’s next?

In May 2017 CTA will be publishing another paper which looks in greater depth at innovations in provision and exploring ideas for creating a stronger role for community transport organisations.

So much of what we do is achieved through building partnerships and projects with like-minded people and organisations that care about the same things we do.

If anything strikes a chord with what you are trying to achieve through your work then please get in touch.

Email: hello@ctauk.org