Agenda item

Stuart Jeffrey, Deputy Managing Director, North & West Kent CCGs and Lead for Kent and Medway Patient Transport) and Russell Hobbs, Managing Director, G4S were in attendance for this item.

(1)      The Chair welcomed the guests to the Committee. Mr Jeffrey began by informing the committee of the significant improvements following the true up exercise at the start of the year. Mr Hobbs provided a background to the history of the service and said that the rebasing exercise had successfully concluded.  He confirmed that this had led to additional staff and vehicles being deployed in Kent with the overall trajectory of improvement required over six months being met.  Mr Hobbs highlighted the following key points:

·         Call handling had improved considerably and was now under 60 seconds and ever increasing;

·         Improvement in engagement and communications including the introduction of a relationship manager;

·         Significant improvements in inwards and outwards journeys;

·         Increased monitoring of waits to aid patient flow.

(2)      Mr Hobbs emphasised that complaints remained higher than he would like but they were not complacent; the service understood the key themes and were learning from them for continual improvement.

(3)      Members enquired about fleet management including third party vehicles, the service call centre and patient experience.  Mr Hobbs said that third party suppliers was part of the provision and within the industry was used to meet periods of increased demand; the cost of this was met by the provider.  Mr Hobbs committed to provide the Committee with numbers of third-party vehicles used.

(4)      Mr Hobbs informed the Committee that within Kent most of the controllers were based in the hospitals; a patient transport liaison officer for ward liaison and a controller who manages the day to day allocation of vehicles and staff.   Mr Hobbs confirmed that the service has an enquiry line and a separate booking line with improved response times.

(5)      Mr Jeffrey informed the committee that the clinical manager and operational manager would work with patients should they have concerns about length of journey and associated impacts. He confirmed that the provider would not become involved in those discussions.

(6)      A Member complimented the provider on the patient experience data and the manner of the staff and feelings of safety throughout the journey.

(7)      Mr Hobbs informed the Committee about the ‘Back to Greens’ programme which provided valuable feedback to the senior management team regarding the patient experience and as a result some changes have been commissioned.

(8)      A Member enquired about Brexit and the associated impacts on the service.  Mr Hobbs said that contingency planning was being undertaken but the service was not an emergency service and did not have blue light use. 

(9)      The Chair asked about vacancy rates and reaching a full complement.  Mr Hobbs said that currently there was 42 vacancies in Kent with 44 people in training, screening or vetting but not operational currently. He confirmed that operationally on a monthly basis it adds up to 72,000 delivery hours made up of fully employed staff, bank staff and third-party support. 

(10)   RESOLVED that the report be noted, and NHS North and West Kent CCGs be requested to provide an update in June 2019.