Issue - meetings

35.1     The Committee considered an update report on the re-commissioning of the Non-Emergency Patient Transport Service (NEPTS) in Sussex. NEPTS is an eligibility driven service that is a statutory obligation for NHS commissioners to provide to transport patients to and from their healthcare appointments. (Post-meeting note: NHS Sussex has appointed ERS Transition Limited, trading as EMED Group, to be the new provider of Non-Emergency Patient Transport Services (NEPTS) for Sussex. The service is due to go live on 1^st April 2025).

35.2     The Committee asked what the lessons learnt from previous mobilisations were and what were the main areas of risk.

35.3     Maggie Keating, NHS Sussex Urgent and Emergency Care Programme Director, explained that one of the key lessons learnt by NHS Sussex had been from the procurement process, which had been far more robust and included much more market engagement than the previous procurement. The risks during mobilisation would be specific to the chosen provider, but generally they would likely be on whether the right vehicles, workforce, and technology were in place by April 2025. If a new provider was taking on the contract how the transition would be handled was another potential risk area.

35.4     The Committee asked how the performance of the new service would be monitored and whether potential issues would be spotted at an early stage.

35.5     Maggie Keating explained that there were a number of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as part of the contract, alongside a number of quality and safety indicators. One of the key risks when Coperforma had the contract was that it was a small organisation that delivered the core booking service and relied on a number of subcontractors to transport patients. The new contract would not be like this and, whilst subcontractors were permitted, there was a requirement for the winning bidder to have a core turnover that was sufficient that the Sussex contract would not form the majority of its activity.  Harvey Winder, Urgent and Emergency Care Transformation Lead added that the minimum turnover requirement for bidders was at least double the value of the contract if they were to be considered.

35.6     The Committee asked how people would be signposted to the Single Point of Co-ordination (SPoC).

35.7     Harvey Winder explained that during mobilisation there would be an opportunity to develop ways to ensure patients were being sign-posted to the NEPTS, for example, working with acute trusts to include the NEPTS SPoC contact details in the text of patients’ outpatient appointment letters (outpatient appointments account for around 80% of NEPTS journeys). If patients who use the SPoC were deemed as not eligible for NEPTS, the SPoC call handler is required under the new service model to signpost them to other schemes including those that reduced or reimbursed the cost of private travel, such as the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS), or to other community providers of patient transport services.

35.8     The Committee asked how those with mental health problems would be supported under the new NEPTS  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35

15.1     The Committee considered a report on the delivery of the Non-Emergency Patient Transport Service (NEPTS) and the ongoing re-commissioning of the service. NEPTS is an eligibility driven service that is a statutory obligation for NHS commissioners to provide to transport patients to and from their healthcare appointments.

15.2     The Committee asked how NHS Sussex could guarantee the new provider would be able to deliver the service, given previous problems with the last procurement.

15.3     Maggie Keating, NHS Sussex Urgent and Emergency Care Programme Director recognised the previous problems from the previous procurement, and explained that there had been significant market and patient engagement throughout the creation of the new service specification. As a result of this and learning from the previous procurement NHS was in a strong position to avoid a similar problem with the new procurement.

15.4     The Committee noted that some people felt the eligibility criteria for NEPTS was set too high, which created issues for those on the borderline of being eligible and where services had been moved to single sites through reconfiguration.

15.5     Maggie Keating explained that the new national eligibility criteria had been subject to public consultations and should make more people eligible for the service. Part of the new service specification required the provider to signpost patients who weren’t eligible to a suitable alternative. The availability of voluntary sector support was inconsistent across Sussex, but NHS Sussex had worked with it to increase volunteer capacity, and ensure that as part of the new model patients would be assisted to find their own ways to healthcare settings.

15.6     The Committee asked how bidders would be evaluated on their capacity to meet the new service specifications, and what due diligence there would be to ensure the financial robustness of bidders.

15.7     Maggie Keating confirmed that these all formed parts of the information to tender questions that potential providers were asked as part of the bidding process to ensure they were organisations capable of delivering the service. Bidders were first evaluated on their organisational viability to ensure they met financial and legal thresholds that assured they were capable of delivering in an appropriate way. NHS Sussex were not prescriptive of the service operating model, meaning sub-contractors could potentially be used, however bidders were required to have the arrangements in place prior to the contract being agreed.

15.8     The Committee asked what review processes were in place for once the contract had been awarded.

15.9     Maggie Keating confirmed there were Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) running through the contract that would be looked at as standard contract management mechanisms.

15.10   The Committee asked how net zero ambitions would be built into the contract to ensure they were delivered on, and what would be done if the provider failed to meet the targets.

15.11   Maggie Keating confirmed that there was a very clear requirement for the provider to reach net zero delivery by the end of the contract in 2035, and a trajectory for achieving this target over the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15