AN ambulance trust could be asked to help a private company with a patient transport service currently in crisis - despite having only handed it over a week earlier.

Chief officer Wendy Carberry, of the clinical commissioning group (CCG) which oversaw the handover, said nothing was being ruled out as health bosses battle to get the system working properly.

Patients are still facing delays and disruption following a serious of technical problems since private company Coperforma took over the service on April 1.

The system, previously run by South East Coast Ambulance Service (Secamb) for CCGs across the county, provides transport for patients from their homes for non-emergency hospital appointments.

In an interview with The Argus, Ms Carberry apologised, admitting the situation was not acceptable and said it was being monitored on a daily basis.

Ms Carberry, who earns about £100,000 a year, is chief officer of High Weald Lewes Havens CCG, which led the process of awarding the more than £60 million four year contract.

She said the CCGs decided to draw up a new contract after Secamb told them it did not want to continue providing the service.

Ms Carberry defended the choice of Coperforma to run it, saying the company met every requirement and was particularly strong on innovation and being patient centred.

She said the decision to change the contract was “absolutely not a cost-cutting” exercise and the CCGs had not reduced the amount of funding they were investing.

Ms Carberry said a detailed investigation was now being held into how the problems in the run up to and immediately after the service went live.

This includes the delays in handing over patient booking information until late on March 31 and why patients had been told to call the firm on April 1 to confirm bookings.

She said: “We had a mobilisation team and plan for the handover which was worked through by Coperforma and the CCGs but there have been a number of issues and we absolutely accept them.

“This was caused by internal and external problems and we are looking into this.”

When asked about whether Secamb could be called in to help out until the problems were solved, Ms Carberry said: “We are continually reviewing the situation on a daily basis. At the moment we are ruling nothing in and nothing out.

“However we are confident these problems will be resolved.

“There are still a number of issues we want to see improved. This includes stabilising the service, particularly for regular users.

“We want it sorted as soon as possible and we are working as a whole system across Sussex to do this."

Steps already taken have including prioritising dialysis and cancer patients, improving access to online booking and basing Coperforma staff at hospitals to help with the booking process.

Ms Carberry said: “We accept this has not been an acceptable start and I would like to apologise to all those affected.”

SERVICE WON AWARD FOR EFFICIENCY

COPERFORMA is based in Andover, Hampshire, and specialises in providing patient transport services.

It was founded by its current managing director Michael Clayton in 2008 who previously worked for AssetCo, a company responsible for public sector clients including the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, University Hospitals Leicester and the Metropolitan Police.

Its chairman is John Porter, who is also chairman of Sinocare, which owns and operates hospitals in China.

Coperforma’s client list includes University College London Hospital, Royal Free Hampstead, Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, Mersey Care and Basingstoke and Hampshire Hospitals Foundation Trust.

It is registered with the Care Quality Commission but has not been inspected.

The CQC does not inspect every service but its website shows that in 2013 it assessed information about Coperforma and felt there was no need for the company to take any further action over core standards, including treating people with respect and involving them in their care, providing care, treatment and support that meets people’s needs, caring for people safely and protecting them from harm, staffing and quality and suitability of management.

The company won a Health Service Journal efficiency award in 2012 and was a finalist the following year.

It uses real time technology to schedule all journeys so it can make last-minute changes easily and on its website says its equipment enables it to reduce “time and money wasted in traditional operational models to deliver better services for significantly less”.