More than 20,000 late cancellations hit Welsh patient transport service
More than 20,000 non-emergency ambulance journeys across Wales have been cancelled at short notice so far this year, prompting the Welsh Ambulance Service to urge patients to cancel bookings as early as possible if they no longer need transport.
The Non-Emergency Patient Transport Service (NEPTS), which takes patients to treatments including oncology and dialysis appointments, says late cancellations often leave too little time to offer journeys to other patients or prevent crews from travelling to collection addresses unnecessarily.
So far this year, the service received more than 20,000 short notice cancellations – either last minute or when crews arrive to collect the patient – giving insufficient time for the journey to be offered elsewhere.
Mark Harris, Assistant Director of Operations (Ambulance Care), said: “Broadly speaking, cancellations are good for the service if they are received with sufficient notice, allowing us to offer the available slot to someone else.
“This helps maximise our resources and ensure that patients who would otherwise have missed out on a journey are able to be transported.
“However, when the cancellation comes in at the last minute, there is insufficient time to reallocate the vehicles and crews, meaning patients are missing out.
“Therefore, we are asking everyone to consider carefully before booking whether they need an ambulance crew or can use an alternative method to get to their appointment.
“Should a patient no longer need their booked ambulance transport, it is vital that they let us know as early as possible to free up space to help other patients.”
The Trust has several ways for patients to cancel their scheduled journeys, including visiting the Cancel Transport page online, by calling the non-emergency transport booking line on 0300 1232303 or, if they are signed up to the SMS service, by replying ‘cancel’ to any text updates.
The Welsh Ambulance Service will also shortly be releasing a patient app to allow patients to cancel using their mobile phones or tablets.
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