IT IS a miracle the Coperforma debacle did not result in a loss of life.

That is the claim from Hove MP Peter Kyle in the aftermath of the decision to strip the embattled patient transport firm of its contract.

Unions, MPs, health campaigners and staff all reacted with delight to the news that responsibility for ferrying Sussex patients to and from hospital appointments is to be taken back in-house by the NHS.

Meanwhile the health minister yesterday retracted a Parliamentary statement which The Argus raised was incorrect.

However, Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion, warned the formal correction had resulted in more questions than it answered.

She was among yesterday calling for those responsible to be held to account.

The Argus broke the news that the South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) will take over the contract from Coperforma.

Coperforma’s service was atrocious from the start with thousands of patients let down each week. Two of its subcontractors ceased trading, and last month The Argus revealed that one was operating without a licence.

Wendy Carberry, chief officer for the lead Clinical Commissioning Group which appointed Coperforma, said she was “delighted” that SCAS had agreed to take on the contract but again refused to speak to The Argus.

Peter Kyle, MP for Hove, said: “I’m very pleased with the news but we can’t just let this lie because I’m not satisfied this can’t happen again.

“It’s a miracle there wasn’t a loss of life.

“When it comes to the CCG somebody has got to show they’ve learned the lesson.”

Gary Palmer said the GMB union applauded the decision, adding: “This whole Coperforma debacle has been an awful experience for both patients and our members.”

Steve Barton, a former NHS ambulance driver who was twice transferred to Coperforma subcontractors which ceased trading, said: “I’m very happy. Obviously it's going to be a slow process but the main thing is that it’s going to go back where it belongs.”

Katrina Miller, of Sussex Defend the NHS, added: “At last and about time too. The Argus has done a fantastic job putting this fiasco out there for the public.”

She called for CCG managers to be sacked.

Fran McCabe, of Healthwatch Brighton and Hove, said the news was welcome, adding: “The issue does not end with the departure of Coperforma. We are determined that lasting lessons must be learned.”

Meanwhile, the Department of Health formally yesterday retracted a statement to Parliament which inaccurately claimed the CCG told Coperforma to stop dealing with Docklands when the former learned Docklands had no licence from the health regulator the CQC. The Argus revealed that was not true.

Ms Lucas MP said: “As this complex web of deceit is further revealed it’s becoming increasingly clear that those responsible must be held to account for their actions.”

She added “Ministers must now get a grip and end this accountability vacuum.”

THE RESULT MANY HAVE LONGED FOR

SO COPERFORMA has gone.

The firm which claimed it would bring record-quality patient transport to Sussex has been unceremoniously stripped of its contract after seven months of terrible performance, industrial disputes, and an infuriating lack of transparency.

This story on which The Argus has uncovered revelation after revelation has reached its climax that so many have longed for.

But despite the best efforts of this newspaper and campaigning MPs, dozens of questions remain unanswered.

Firstly will Coperforma face financial penalties? The CCG intends for their replacement to formally take over from April 1 next year. Does that mean Coperforma will be paid a full £15 million for a year’s work?

Will it settle disputed invoices with subcontractor Thames Ambulances which The Argus understands run to more than £750,000? Coperforma says there is nothing outstanding.

Who is in charge right now? Even ambulance firms do not know. Graham Briggs, human resources director of Thames Ambulances, told The Argus: “Do Coperforma currently have the contract? Do subcontractors work for the CCG now? Or South Coast Ambulance Service (SCAS)? Until that’s clear we don’t know who we’re working for.”

Will there be resignations at the top of the CCG as some have called for?

Why has this happened on the same day the CQC published a report based on an unannounced inspection of Coperforma. It identifies 11 areas which needed improvement – from complaint management, to timeliness, to vehicle safety. When did the CCG see this report and did it have any bearing on their decision to make this announcement yesterday?

Is this decision legal? The CCG spent months on a multi-stage procurement and selection process the first time around and insisted that the process was only open to those offering a “managed” system – disqualifying companies including previous provider Secamb who would have provided both call handling and vehicles.

Now the multi-million pound contract has been handed to SCAS, seemingly with no formal bidding process. And SCAS will provide both call handling and vehicle transport.

What we do know is that this has been a sorry saga since Coperforma’s blisteringly incompetent takeover on April 1. First phone calls went unanswered. Then patients waited four hours or more for ambulances which never arrived.

In many cases, these were vulnerable and elderly individuals, waiting for time-sensitive treatments like chemotherapy or dialysis. Many have called this paper to tell of their distress both physical and emotional.

They have told us of missed appointments, missed meals, delays to operations and waits of more than five hours.

By the second and third weeks of the service, it was later revealed, Coperforma was only getting two out of ten patients to hospital on time.

Even the company’s own drivers thought they didn’t have a clue and the smartphone app which ran the whole system didn’t work at their rural ambulance depot. Nor did it tell drivers which hospital ward to go to.

In the absence of anything resembling full disclosure from Coperforma or the CCG, The Argus informed readers that as many as four thousand patient journeys – as many as half – might have been missed in the first disastrous fortnight after the handover.

Then over the summer, just as patient service started to improve, the industrial relations disaster came to the boil.

Ambulance firm VM Langfords went bust. Coperforma said they could cope, and staff were rescued by Docklands, which later shut up shop leaving drivers owed seven weeks of wages.

The CCG had to step in and use taxpayer money to prevent staff (who a few months earlier had been NHS employees) from losing their homes. We are still waiting to learn if Coperforma will repay that money.

Then The Argus discovered that Docklands never had a CQC licence. The CQC couldn’t say if the firm had broken the law. And the CCG and Coperforma refused to give us a list of other subcontractors so we could see for ourselves if any more were operating illegally.

Then we found out that the regulator didn’t even know who Coperforma’s subcontractors were.

Finally, the scandal reached Parliament. Health minister Philip Dunne said the CCG had told Coperforma to stop dealing with Docklands once news of their lack of CQC licence reached them, and that Coperforma had done so.

Except the CCG never issued that instruction and Coperforma didn’t act on it – as a correction to the Parliamentary record issued yesterday acknowledged. NHS England is now investigating how the wrong information came to be issued.

So Wendy Carberry at the CCG may say she is “delighted” that patient transport is moving from Coperforma to SCAS – whose hands at first glance certainly appear safer, not to mention cleaner.

But as Peter Kyle has pointed out, it is not just Coperforma who were responsible for this debacle, and not just Coperforma who should be held responsible for it.

PITIFUL CATALOGUE OF INCOMPETENCE

November, 2015 Coperforma wins the four-year contract, worth £363 million, for transporting non-emergency patients in Sussex.

March 30, 2016 Chief executive Michael Clayton says his company is ready for the April 1 takeover.

April 1 Calls overwhelm Coperforma’s phone lines. Bosses claim patient data was poorly transferred and hundreds of journeys are missed on the first day.

April 5 The Argus runs its first Coperforma story, on the Tuesday following the Friday takeover. We report vulnerable patients missed appointments after waiting more than four hours for ambulances that never arrived. Hospital staff have to pay for taxis to take patients home.

April 6 Coperforma apologises unreservedly.

April 9 In an interview with The Argus, Wendy Carberry, chief officer of the lead CCG which appointed Coperforma, apologises and says the situation is being monitored daily.

April 12 Coperforma branded a “shambles” by unions.

April 14 MPs Caroline Lucas and Peter Kyle get involved and call on Coperforma to “get a grip”.

April 16 Coperforma’s own drivers, employed through subcontractors, tell The Argus the company is “out of its depth” and “a total shower”. We expose Coperforma’s smartphone app does not work at rural ambulance depots, nor does it tell drivers which hospital ward to go to.

April 19 An independent investigation is launched into the disastrous handover.

April 21 The Argus reveals that thousands of journeys have been missed. Only 6,000 journeys were recorded by Coperforma in its first two weeks, when the comparable figure under predecessor Secamb was more than 10,000.

May 26 Figures reveal as many as eight out of ten renal patients were failed by Coperforma in its first three weeks.

May 27 Coperforma chief executive tells The Argus it will hit its 100 per cent delivery targets by July.

June 18 Coperforma subcontractor VM Langfords has vehicles seized by bailiffs and goes into administration.

July 4 Figures show performance is improving with nine out of ten patients delivered on time.

August 9 The handover inquiry reports reports Coperforma could not show it had field-tested its equipment before taking on the contract and debunks the claim that it had worked on contracts of this size previously. Commissioners are criticised for not asking for proof of readiness.

September 7 The Argus reveals that one Coperforma subcontractor claims to be owed hundreds of thousands of pounds. Coperforma accepts invoices are in dispute but deny money is owed.

September 22 After subcontractor Docklands stops paying its drivers, the NHS steps in, channelling taxpayer funds via the GMB union.

October 21 The Argus reveals Docklands was operating without a licence from regulator CQC. The CQC is investigating whether it broke the law.

October 24 Caroline Lucas brandishes The Argus in the House of Commons, warning the Coperforma chaos alongside other funding and provision problems have created a “perfect storm” in Sussex healthcare.

October 26 The Argus asks “Where’s Wendy?” after the CCG head goes a third day refusing an interview.

October 27 The Argus reveals the CQC does not know which firms are subcontracting for Coperforma.

October 28 We reveal Parliament was misled when health minister Philip Dunne said that the CCG told Coperforma to stop trading with Docklands. It actually turns out that no such instruction was issued.

Yesterday The Argus reveals that Coperforma will lose the contract.