Private ambulance firm 'confident' over NHS services
BBCA private ambulance firm which is under scrutiny for poor performance has said it is confident it can manage two new NHS contracts from April.
EMED Group is due to provide non-emergency patient transport services in Sussex and the Thames Valley region, taking over from South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS).
However, NHS managers in Surrey, where the firm already operates, said patients had suffered harm from missed appointments.
The company said it was well-placed to avoid serious issues in the future.
In December, Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in Surrey said it had "safety concerns" over EMED's performance.
It said kidney patients were among those who had missed appointments and it had brought in its own extra ambulance to ease pressures.
EMED, which took over the Surrey contract in April 2024, was consistently missing targets and leaving patients waiting, the Health Service Journal reported in December.
The firm had since shown "incremental improvements" but remained under "enhanced quality surveillance", the NHS in Surrey said. It declined to provide latest performance figures.
EMED's Sussex contract director Jon Mawer said: "I'm not in a position to discuss Surrey.
"If there are challenges, we'll be proactive... The only problem I envisage is the new staff coming into the service.
"We have got mentors coming in from other parts of the business. They will facilitate supporting some of the new staff.
"I'm very calm with it. I feel at the moment we're in a very good position... very high confidence."
He said the firm was inheriting some SCAS staff and would use existing booking systems.
In a statement, the firm added that it was "on track to deliver actions" that had been agreed with Surrey health commissioners.
Under the new deals from 1 April, EMED Group will be paid £115m for services in Sussex over five years, with the option to extend for five more years.
The contract covering Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and parts of north-east Hampshire and west Surrey is worth £222m over 10 years.
SCAS said it bid for the Thames Valley contract but was not successful.
A previous private provider in Sussex, Coperforma, lost its contract in 2016 and went into liquidation, amid a catalogue of problems with patients left stranded at hospital or at home.
Gary Palmer, regional organiser for the GMB union, said the fiasco cost NHS commissioners up to £7m.
He added: "What is annoying is that those same commissioners are now doing exactly the same, looking to find the cheapest bid possible.
"Once it goes into the private sector it is going to be about shareholders' profitability and not patient journeys and patient experiences."
EMED said it would not squeeze services to make profits.
Mr Mawer said he could cut costs by avoiding the use of expensive sub-contractors and relying instead on the firm's extensive national fleet of vehicles and staff.
He said vehicles would also be deployed more efficiently to reduce mileage.
He told the BBC: "I've got all of my bases situated where the patients live.
"We're going to be providing an agile and responsive service, ensuring patients get to those vital hospital appointments as well as offering a dedicated discharge service."
Both Sussex and Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West NHS commissioners said they would work to ensure that quality was maintained.
You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.