Changes to how you book non-emergency patient transport for hospital appointments

Booking arrangements for non-emergency patient transport has changed for patients using the following local hospitals:

• North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
• Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust (including Chase Farm Hospital and Barnet Hospital)
• Whittington Health
• Moorfields Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Who is eligible for patient transport?

There is no change to the eligibility criteria for non-emergency patient transport. Access to non-emergency patient transport  continues to be based on medical need. The nurse-led patient transport assessment centre will use assessment questions for each booking to establish each patient’s eligibility to access NHS-funded transport. These questions may be revised when necessary to ensure they are in line with Department for Health and Social Care guidance.

The results of the eligibility assessment will remain valid for two weeks. Regular non-emergency patient transport users will be assessed every three months.

You can make bookings up to four weeks in advance. Whoever makes the booking – yourself, a relative, carer or healthcare professional – will need to be able to answer the questions that form the eligibility assessment accurately and in full.

The eligibility criteria restricts non-emergency patient transport to patients whose clinical condition means that travelling by any other means would be detrimental to their recovery or existing condition, such as (but not limited) to:

• patients who need to be transported on a stretcher
• some wheelchair patients
• some patients receiving oxygen
• patients who require paramedic services
• patients who need the support of patient transport staff during the journey

Non-emergency patient transport is provided based on medical need only and not whether the patient can afford the cost of their journeys to and from appointments. Some patients on a low income may be eligible for reimbursement of travel costs through the healthcare travel costs scheme (HTCS). This funding can also be issued in advance, either per journey or in a block sum, depending on the frequency of travel.