Agenda item

Ian Ayres (Managing Director, Medway, North and West Kent CCGs), Johnathon Mawer (Relationship Manager, G4S Patient Transport Services) and Russell Hobbs (Managing Director, G4S Patient Transport Services) were in attendance for this item.

(1)       The Chair welcomed the guests to the Committee. Mr Ayres introduced the report and set out some of the key challenges faced under the existing contract which included a demand for higher mobility, longer distanced journeys and increased escort numbers. Mr Ayres informed the Committee that the CCGs had agreed to rebase the contract and provide additional funding which was less than 10% of the contract value. A new performance regime was being implemented to incorporate a graduated scale of consequence to reflect the severity of failing to achieve Key Performance Indicator (KPI) targets.

(2)       In response to a question about the exclusion of Dartford and Gravesham from the main contract, Mr Ayres explained that the contract for that area was originally managed by North Kent CCG, however, it had now been transferred to him in his new role as the Managing Director for Medway, North and West Kent CCGs. Mr Ayres stated that the management of three separate fleets with three separate contracts was logistically inefficient and therefore an agreement was being sought with G4S to manage the fleet as an integrated system.

(3)       Members raised concerns about performance of G4S. Mr Ayres acknowledged that performance at 40% was not acceptable. He identified two drivers of poor performance; the first being the wrong fleet size which was in the process of being corrected through the contract variation and the second being the performance regime.  He noted that a new performance regime had been introduced which would now differentiate between minor failures and more significant ones. Mr Ayres assured the Committee that recent improvements had reduced the level of complaints; he acknowledged the significant work undertaken by G4S staff to improve performance. Mr Ayres noted that the initial contract had included all journeys in and out of London hospitals which had required a vehicle to be out of use for an entire day and was therefore not efficient model. He stated that a decision was therefore taken to remove the London Hospitals from the G4S contract.

(4)       In response to questions about training compliance and complaints, Mr Hobbs explained that there had been an absence of records from the previous provider. As G4S was unable to evidence training, it had decided to retrain all staff; 99% compliance of mandatory and safeguarding training was achieved by January 2018. He noted that complaints accounted for 0.2% of the 325,000 patients transported within the last year. He reported that the number of complaints had reduced from 110 in October 2017 to 60 in March 2018. Mr Hobbs stated that the average acknowledgment time was a day, and the response time was 18 days. He highlighted that G4S had now satisfied all the requirements set out in the  improvement notice and this had now been removed. He stressed that G4S took complaints seriously and were not complacent.

(5)       RESOLVED that:

(a)       the report be noted;

(b)       West Kent CCG be requested to provide a written update on the new key performance indicators to the June meeting;

(c)        West Kent CCG be requested to present a verbal update on performance to the Committee in the autumn.