Keep Non-Emergency Ambulances for the East Riding of Yorkshire in the NHS.

An open letter to the East Riding of Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group

Dear Commissioners,

As you will be all too aware, in November the Hull CCG made the decision to award the contract for patient transport (worth in the region of £6 million of taxpayer money) to the private firm Thames Ambulance Service for the next five years. This effectively ends the long standing joint contract between yourselves and the Hull CCG, therefore initiating the commencement of a tendering process for non-emergency transport in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

We are writing to you today not only as Ambulance Care Assistants for Yorkshire Ambulance Service representing our workforce, but as members of the community in the East Riding whose friends, families and neighbours may come to rely on this service. Whilst we fully appreciate the great financial challenges facing all NHS trusts, we implore you to carefully consider the ramifications of privatising this service.

Firstly we wish to highlight how YAS patient transport differs from other similar services. Whilst it is often termed a “door to door service,” our role extends far beyond the front door. With the use of specialist equipment we regularly transport the most sick, vulnerable and immobile individuals in our community in a safe and dignified way. We carry bed bound patients up and down stairs to receive life saving treatment and return them to the comfort of their homes. We frequently transport patients receiving palliative care, sometimes for their last journey home, treating them with the highest level of care and respect that they deserve. We use specialist equipment to enable the safe lifting and movement of bariatric patients. We assist vulnerable people into their homes after being discharged from a long period in hospital, we ensure the safety and comfort of these individuals far beyond what is asked of us in the agreed contract by ensuring their homes are warm, making cups of tea, contacting family and carers and more. This all costs time and money, but ultimately we put our patients before profit. This is our unique selling point. Although the same staff will retain their roles, much of the passion, dedication and motivation to go the extra mile will be lost if we are prised from our NHS employers and forced to work for a profit making organisation.

Furthermore we are rigorously trained by some of the most experienced Ambulance clinicians in the region. We are not Paramedics, but are trained to a higher standard than is required in our day to day responsibilities. The skills and knowledge that we hold far exceed the bare minimum training for non-emergency transport. This allows us to provide an additional service to the public; we frequently come across accidents and incidents as they are happening or before an emergency Ambulance has arrived. We can then perform initial observations and limited interventions with the first aid equipment carried. This is invaluable for the residents of East Riding of Yorkshire. It can save lives and is something that we are already doing effectively to a high standard, which may be put in jeopardy should the contract change hands.

In addition to this, our unique position as a part of the same service that provides Emergency Ambulance care in our region allows us to work closely and provide resilience for A&E in the event of a major incident. The value of this to our community cannot be overstated and was demonstrated during the Selby rail crash, whereby PTS crews provided by Yorkshire Ambulance Service were able to easily communicate and work with emergency crews to facilitate the movement of patients away from the scene of the accident, freeing up more qualified clinicians to treat patients and save lives.

This close working relationship also allows us to share vital infrastructure such as base stations with our colleagues on A&E, giving us unrivalled access to locations and support services throughout the region. This provides easy access to equipment and stock replenishment, as well as cleaning equipment to ensure that vehicles can remain on the road throughout the day regardless of location. This is vital in maintaining a reliable service as vehicles often become soiled during the day due to the nature of the patients we carry; access to strategic locations whereby vehicles can be cleaned and deep cleaned in line with CQC requirements allows us to maintain the highest standard of cleanliness and infection prevention and control that other providers may struggle to meet. We also share extremely robust support services and have access to a safeguarding referral line to help protect the vulnerable members of our community.

Whilst we appreciate that you have to satisfy your own decision making process, we hope you can take these points into consideration when deciding whom to award the East Riding Non-emergency Medical Transport contract to. From dialogue with patients in the region, it is not their wish to privatise the provision of patient transport and they are overwhelmingly in support of Yorkshire Ambulance Service continuing to provide this service in our region.

Yours faithfully,

On the behalf of YAS PTS Staff & PTS Service users.