THE firm which took over non-emergency patient transport in Sussex was still failing more than half of the vulnerable people in its care weeks after taking on the service, it was revealed yesterday.

Coperforma Ltd, which took over the transportation of dialysis and other non-urgent patients to Sussex hospitals on April 1, only got four in ten renal patients to hospital on time for their appointments in the fourth week of the service.

Figures published for the first time at a meeting of the Brighton and Hove city council’s health oversight committee showed that across the first three weeks, as few as two in ten renal patients were picked up within an hour of their booked collection time, and that the service level currently stands at 67 per cent.

Non-renal patients who are discharged unexpectedly can expect to wait up to three hours and still fall within the firms “key performance indicator” guidelines, but last week Coperforma hit that “non-renal outbound” target only 69 per cent of the time.

Its chief executive Michael Clayton, who has previously apologised “unreservedly” to patients for trouble with the service, told the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee that Coperforma had planned provision around the data with which it had been provided, but that experience had shown demand peaked 30 per cent higher than anticipated.

As the meeting took place, across the county in Lewes a protest was being held by the GMB union, calling for Coperforma to lose the contract.

There were terse disagreements between Coperforma and previous provider, the South East Coast Ambulance Service, (Secamb) over staffing levels, the meeting heard.   Secamb acting chief executive Geraint Davies said that 84 percent of staff - or 154 out of 182 - had tupe’d over to Coperforma and its subsidiaries, while Coperforma boss Michael Clayton claimed that of the 51 staff he been expecting to transfer to the Coperforma call team, only 15 had done.

The CCGs dismissed suggestions from Councillor Mo Marsh that “alarm bells should have rung” once other bidders pulled out of the tendering process.

 Adam Beasley, the chief financial officer of High Weald Lewes Havens CCG which led the commissioning process confirmed that other providers had not cited safety concerns when pulling out of the tendering process and that it was not against the rules to proceed with just one bidder.

 Last Friday a letter was sent to all Sussex patients on behalf of the seven CCGs who commissioned the service, apologising for the service and acknowledging that it has not been acceptable.

PROVISION BRANDED ‘UTTER SHAMBLES’

AN ELDERLY wheelchair user who was left waiting for more than three hours to be picked up from hospital called patient transport provision in Sussex an “utter shambles” yesterday at a union protest over the new provider.

Birgit Viner from Lewes joined the GMB union’s 24-hour protest outside the High Weald Lewes Havens Clinical Commissioning Group’s HQ.

The protest called for responsibility for patient transport to be removed from private firm Coperforma, which has been beset by problems since taking over the service on April 1. Patients have been picked up or collected up to five hours late, or in many cases not at all, and phone calls can take 40 minutes or more to be answered.

On Monday, May 9 Mrs Viner was repeatedly told her ambulance was on its way from 1pm, but by 4.45pm it still had not arrived. Diabetic Mrs Viner was by then feeling so unwell she arranged her own transport home.

Gary Palmer for the GMB, which did not take part in discussions about becoming the firm’s officially recognised union, said: “We could not have foreseen the extent to which the failure of the service would affect patients who rely on this provision to make important hospital and clinical appointments on a regular basis.

“We therefore call for the removal of Coperforma from the Sussex PTS contract and that High Weald Lewes Havens CCG board examine whether CCG lead and accountable officer Wendy Carberry is the correct person for the job.”

A Coperforma spokesman said that service levels were improving and called the GMB demonstration ‘regrettable’., adding: “It is regrettable that the GMB has chosen to commit to this demonstration at a time when everyone concerned with the delivery of the service is working collaboratively to address the challenges that remain.”

SLOWED DOWN BY HANDOVER DELAYS

AMBULANCE crews are dealing with less than two thirds of the callouts they could be, due to delays in the handover of patients to busy accident and emergency departments.

More than 16,000 patients waited in excess of 45 minutes to be passed from the care of paramedics in ambulances, to a Sussex hospital, it was revealed yesterday.

Terry Parkin, non-executive director of the South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) told councillors: “The typical productivity in a shift is just three and a half calls.

“The optimum number in that time might be five, maybe more.”

The Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee of Brighton and Hove City Council heard warnings from ambulance bosses that system-wide problems which have led to delays are keeping ambulances off streets and away from critical patients.

 The SECAmb team faced scrutiny after a report revealed almost 18,000 hours a year are wasted by ambulance crews, with the 2015-16 figure representing a 46 per cent rise in two years.

However the report and the meeting concluded that there was no single causal factor for the delays, with staff capacity, delayed discharges, and the complexity of modern medical treatments all contributing to ungovernable demand at the pinch-point.

Colin Vincent, vice chair of the Older People’s Council, called for the creation of a specialist task force, adding: “The problem isn’t a front door problem it’s a back door problem, we know there’s a problem moving people on to other services.”