A HEALTH minister has said he will act in the wake of The Argus’s revelations that an ambulance service subcontractor is operating without a licence.

Health minister Philip Dunne said he would enquire with the Care Quality Commission about the status of Docklands Medical Services Ltd.

It follows an Argus investigation that revealed the regulator did not know whether the firm broke the law in transporting patients in July, August and September without a licence.

The minister also criticised the High Weald Lewes Haven CCG for failing to get permission to see subcontracts on the Coperforma agreement and said the body would have to learn from that in the future.

Mr Dunne was responding to criticism led by Green MP Caroline Lucas and supported by fellow city MP Peter Kyle who told an almost deserted house that NHS services in the city were in crisis during an adjournment debate on Monday night.

Ms Lucas accused health secretary Jeremy Hunt of a "dereliction of duty" over the failure of non-emergency patient transport outsourcing and called on him to step in while Mr Kyle said it was "extraordinary" that the contract was ever awarded to Coperforma as it has failed patients from day one.

The Hove MP added that the health economy in the city was now "bankrupt" and called on health minister Philip Dunne to send in a troubleshooter to try and resolve the crisis enveloping health and care services in Brighton and Hove.

Mr Dunne said it had clearly been a very difficult time for staff and some patients since the handing over of responsibility for non-urgent patient transport to Coperforma but that the NHS High Weald Lewes Havens CCG had recently appointed a specialist transport adviser to look at the resilience of the contract.

He said the provision of these services was "quite rightly" a matter for the local NHS and that the CCG had the responsibility and powers to intervene when contractual performance fell below accepted standards.

The High Weald Lewes Havens CCG's chief officer Wendy Carberry has repeatedly refused to speak to The Argus on the issue.

Ms Lucas said the CCG had told her it lacked the ability to intervene because it did not have access to subcontracts awarded by Coperforma.

She also urged the health minister to intervene on the issue of licensing of the Docklands "phoenix" company, formed following the collapse of Docklands Medical Services (London) Ltd in June, and warned the current uncertainty could be "putting patients' lives at risk".

Mr Dunne said: "It is down to the CCG undertake a contract that gives it visibility through subcontracts.

"If that's the failing that has emerged then subsequent contracts they need to be able to get to them and I'm sure they learn from that."