Speeches

Lord Bassam of Brighton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 2016-04-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether there are guidelines in place outlining steps to be taken if main service providers of patient transport fail to deliver satisfactory services.

Lord Prior of Brampton

It is the responsibility for individual clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to commission and performance manage patient transport services, in line with the national guidance Eligibility for Patient Transport Services. This guidance is attached.

CCGs will manage performance of patient transport providers through regular monitoring performance against Key Performance Indicators and have a range of interventions to improve performance, which are available through the NHS Standard Contract.

NHS England ultimately maintains oversight of CCG commissioning, and holds CCGs to account for their commissioning decisions. In addition, NHS Improvement has a role in ensuring that procurement, patient choice and competition operate in the best interests of patients, and to step in if anti-competitive behaviour by National Health Service commissioners or providers goes against patients’ interests.