NHS trust may use Uber taxis to transfer non-emergency patients

Uber taxis could soon be used to transfer non-emergency patients with illnesses ranging from cancer to dementia back and forth from NHS hospitals in a deal that could play a part in “cracking down” on bedblocking, according to the social care company behind it.

The agreement with Barts health NHS trust in London will allow patients to use Uber for journeys including hospital appointments, the care service startup Cera said.

The firm will use UberAssist disabled access cars and the UberWav service for wheelchair users. Carers will also be able to use the system alongside traditional forms of transport to determine the most efficient method for moving people, Cera said.

Patients will be looked after by Ceracarers under the London scheme, which uses a smartphone app to coordinate care, book drivers, and keep relatives informed.

Dr Ben Maruthappu, a former doctor and Cera’s co-founder, said the move would “radically integrate care and transport through technology”, adding: “Older people and those with disabilities will now have access to the highest-quality drivers, while carers will be able to efficiently travel to ensure they can provide services in the right place at the right time.”

“These partnerships tackle major challenges in the NHS, cracking down on bed-blocking and delayed discharges, while providing high-quality and efficient care.”

As well as the five London hospitals that make up the trust, clinical commissioning groups in Harrow, Brent and Hillingdon in north London will also use the service.

The Unison general secretary, Dave Prentis, said: “Social care and the NHS are in such a state of crisis that any initiative to ease the pressure will be welcomed by patients and staff.

“But the funding chasm between what is needed and the pitiful amount councils currently have to commission care is too deep. Nothing short of an emergency injection of cash in the budget, followed by the sustained and realistic funding of health and care will be enough.

“The government must also ensure that all companies that win care contracts don’t exploit staff and pay at the very least the minimum wage.

“Sadly there are still many out there breaking the law and getting away with it.”

David Mowat, minister for community and social care, said: “This is an interesting and innovative proposal which will help raise awareness of the challenges faced by the vulnerable elderly, and those with specific conditions that are becoming increasingly common in our society.”

NHS trust may use Uber taxis to transfer non-emergency patients

Thousands of 999 sufferers picked up by taxis

“The Government should do much more to relieve pressure on ambulance providers to safeguard patients.”

North East Ambulance Services said on Sunday that taxis are only sent to sufferers who dialled 999 when their situation isn’t deemed serious.

Figures released underneath Freedom of Info revealed the Trust’s complete taxi bill for taking individuals to hospital was £493,000 in 2013, such as emergency calls and patient transfers.

Neighbouring North West Ambulance Services said it “does not arrange for personal taxis to convey individuals to A&ampE in these circumstances.”

The revelations come only months following it was unveiled that police autos in the North East had been used to get patients to hospital on 164 occasions among September, 2012, and October, 2013. Barry Coppinger, Cleveland’s Police and Crime Commissioner, said his officers routinely had to consider patients to hospital because no ambulances have been available.

Joel Byers, secretary of the North East Ambulance Service branch of Unison, stated he was hugely concerned about the safety of individuals currently being transported in taxis.

He stated: “What checks are they undertaking on these individuals? When you have an urgent task occasionally they turn out to be worse than an emergency task.

“What care is a taxi driver going to give a patient in a cab? Somebody can search healthy a single minute and then collapse the up coming.”

Mr Byers claimed ambulance trusts are being forced to place all of their professional resources into meeting the Government’s eight-minute response times for severe circumstances at the expense of significantly less significant calls which are not vetted as closely.

He additional: “We don’t have adequate two-guy cars. We have paramedics on their personal who are supposed to appear at a patient, diagnose them and choose if they require to go to hospital.”

A spokesman for the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) said: “If any individual thinks we are taking emergency sufferers to hospital in a taxi, they have acquired the incorrect finish of the stick.

“Whilst a contact may well come by way of on the emergency 999 line, this does not imply the situation is a healthcare emergency.

“Other calls that come via on 999 might require the patient to go to hospital, but not be so critical that we have to despatch a paramedic.”

Thousands of 999 sufferers picked up by taxis