The contact process for booking non-emergency patient transport (NEPT) is changing for patient journeys undertaken to:
The changes come into effect for Moorfields and North Middlesex on 1 September 2019 and for Whittington Health on 8 September 2019.
Please note there is no change to eligibility, which remains in line with Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) guidance and is based on medical need.
What’s changing
To make a request to book transport, patients for the three trusts will now call a single point of access assessment centre where each journey booking will be assessed by applying the eligibility criteria.
The assessment centre number for patients is 0333 240 4909 and calls are charged at a local rate. The assessment centre is open Monday to Friday from 8am to 5pm excluding bank holidays.
All patients will be guided through a nurse-led eligibility assessment which will remain valid for two weeks, but regular users will be assessed every three months. Bookings can be made no earlier than four weeks in advance. It is expected that whoever is making the booking, whether it is the patient, a relative, carer or healthcare professional, will be able to answer the questions that form the assessment, accurately and in full.
The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust has been operating this process since May 2018 and user experience will help to ensure a smooth transition for the other trusts as they phase the process in. Under the new process, GPs will no longer provide access for patients to non-emergency transport as part of the referral process, and transport will not be booked automatically by trusts when appointments are made.
Exceptions to note:
The changes apply to all Moorfields sites excluding Bedford, Croydon, Darent Valley, Ealing and St George’s which will continue to use the transport of the host trust.
Eligibility assessment
Access to NEPT continues to be based on medical need and the patient transport assessment centre will use assessment questions for each booking to establish a patient’s eligibility to access NHS-funded transport. These questions may be revised when necessary to ensure they are in line with Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) guidance.
The eligibility criteria will ensure NEPT is available to patients whose clinical condition means that travelling by any other means would be detrimental to their recovery or existing condition, such as (but not limited) to:
Please click here for the Clinical Eligibility Criteria.
Ability to pay for travel
NEPT is provided based on medical need only and not whether the patient can afford the cost of their journeys to and from appointments. Some patients on a low income may be eligible for reimbursement of travel costs through the healthcare travel costs scheme (HTCS). This funding can also be issued in advance, either per journey or in a block sum, depending on the frequency of travel.
Contact details
In case of any queries you can contact the assessment centre on 0333 240 4909, or email rf.dhl@nhs.net.
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