Agenda item

To receive a presentation on Patient Transport from Home to Hospital across Kirklees from Yorkshire Ambulance Service.

Contact: Nicola Sylvester, Principal Governance and Democratic Engagement Officer.  Tel: 01484 221000.

The Panel received a presentation on missed appointments attributed to Patient Transport Services (PTS) within Kirklees. The presentation responded to queries raised by the Panel regarding the causes of missed appointments, responsibility for transport bookings, and eligibility criteria for PTS. It was noted that the definition of a missed appointment had been refined to include only inward journeys with specific abort reasons: wrong mobility, wrong address, failed journey, and Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) delays. Journeys were excluded where the same patient had another successful inward journey on the same date.

Analysis of data from 1 January 2024 to 17 August 2025 revealed an average of nine missed appointments per week. The primary cause was incorrect mobility categorisation (60.6%), followed by YAS delays (17.1%), wrong address (13.4%), and failed journeys (8.9%). Most missed appointments occurred between 9am and 4pm on weekdays, aligning with peak transport activity. Hospital data showed that Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and Calderdale Royal Hospital accounted for the majority of missed appointments, though only 0.8% of total inward activity resulted in an abort. Similarly, the top 25 clinics accounted for 41.6% of missed appointment aborts, with Acre Mills Outpatients, Huddersfield Royal Infirmary Orthopaedics & X-ray, and Dewsbury District Hospital X-Ray Department being the most affected.

Apologies were received from Yorkshire Ambulance Service – Patient Transport Service. The Panel acknowledged the need for improved accuracy in mobility assessments and transport coordination to reduce missed appointments and raised the following questions:

Q1. There has been an increase and decrease in missed appointments from January 2024 to August 2025 which has not returned to zero, what is the reason for it being so low in January 2024 and what is the reason for the increases/decreases between January 2024 and August 2025?

Q2. Is there a clear escalation route for patients who experience repeated transport related issues?

Q3. What measures are put in place to ensure timely communication between transport providers and healthcare services when bookings for patient transport are made or changed?

Q4 In terms of providing transport, are there certain illnesses that are not being cared for?

Q5. What is the criteria for a patient to receive patient transport?

Q6.  Has there been any recent changes to patient transport in terms of contract of provider?

Q7. What is meant by ‘wrong mobility’, which equates to 60% of missed appointments?

Q8. How is it possible for patient transport to get the wrong address of patients?

Q9. Could the raw data of missed appointments be provided in percentages along with numbers which would make the statistics more meaningful?

Q10. Who is responsible for ensuring the patient transport ambulance staff are physically fit to perform their duties to ensure that particular journeys are not aborted?

Q11. Who is responsible for maintaining records of patients who have physical disabilities?

Q12. What are the underlying reasons for missed appointments in the different areas of Huddersfield Royal Infirmary? Is there an underlying problem?

Q13.  What is meant by a failed Journey?

Q14. Who is responsible for booking the transport at an initial appointment?

Q15. Are there any known inequalities in access to patient transport? ie disabilities, rural areas, English not first language?

Q16. What steps have been taken to ensure that services are inclusive, accessible and person centred?

Q17. Are there any patients who live in deprived areas that are disproportionately affected by missed appointments or missed journeys?

Q18. Are there any cost to patients for patient transport services?

Q19. How many patient transport journeys does Huddersfield Royal Infirmary arrange each week?

The Chair of the panel advised that questions would be forwarded to Yorkshire Ambulance Service-Patient Transport Service for a response, which would be published with the minutes.  On receiving a response if the panel raised further questions, Patient Transport Services would be invited to a future panel meeting in which attendance was expected.

RESOLVED:

1)    That the presentation be noted

2)    That questions raised by the panel would be forwarded to Yorkshire Ambulance service – Patient transport service for a response, and would be published with the minutes

That Yorkshire Ambulance Service-Patient Transport Services would be invited to a future panel meeting if required, on receipt of responses to questions