THE Shadow Health Secretary has called for an inquiry into how a failed patient transport firm was awarded its contract.

Jonathan Ashworth said High Weald Lewes and Havens Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) was wrong to have given the £60m four-year contract to Coperforma, and said it should be more transparent.

Speaking at an event at the GMB union offices in Hove to celebrate the forthcoming return of the service into NHS hands, he praised The Argus for its coverage of the story.

Meanwhile, questions remain over the financial agreement between the firm and the CCG.

Thousands of patient journeys were missed or delayed by four hours or more when private firm Coperforma took on responsibility for transferring non-emergency patients to and from their hospital appointments in Sussex on April 1.

The firm used a smartphone app to direct drivers to pick up patients, but The Argus revealed the app did not work at rural ambulance depots. Last October we revealed that one subcontractor was not properly licensed and that Parliament had been misled about whether Coperforma stopped using the subcontractor upon learning of the issue.

Yesterday Mr Ashworth said a Labour government would repeal the Health and Social Care Act which paved the way for privatisations of this type.

He added: “I think now there’s questions for the CCG and I hope these things can be looked into, and there can be some kind of inquiry into how this contract was awarded.

“This company has never dealt with ambulance services of this scale, why was it awarded a contract like this? Why wasn’t there more due diligence done, why weren’t more questions asked?

“At the very least the CCG needed to give a proper and full explanation beyond what they’ve given so far.”

He praised Hove MP Peter Kyle for his work on behalf of vulnerable and elderly patients and said that revelations about Coperforma in The Argus showed “investigative journalism in a local newspaper at its very best”.

Meanwhile it was announced the managed handover of the service back into the hands of the NHS - in the form of the South Central Ambulance Service - will begin next week.

But we still do not know what payment Coperforma will receive for their involvement, or whether repayments have been made for taxis purchased by NHS trusts for patients Coperforma failed to pick up.

Wendy Carberry, Chief Executive of High Weald Lewes Havens CCG, said: “The financial details of the transfer are being finalised and we are therefore unable to comment on them.”