Non-emergency patient transport: who gets NHS transport to hospital

What NEPTS is

Non-emergency patient transport services, shortened to NEPTS, are NHS-funded journeys to and from planned hospital care for patients who cannot travel safely any other way. Crews include ambulance care assistants and trained drivers, and some journeys need a stretcher or wheelchair space. The service is separate from the money you can claim back for fares.

In England, NHS England set national eligibility criteria on 31 May 2022 after a national review began in 2019. It asked local systems, led by integrated care boards (ICBs), to bring the criteria in as soon as reasonably possible within their contracting cycles. The starting point is blunt: most people should travel to and from hospital independently, by private or public transport. NHS-funded transport is reserved for patients where it is essential to their safety, their ability to move, the management of their condition or their recovery.

Who qualifies in England

You must first have been referred for NHS-funded diagnostics or treatment outside primary care, or be leaving NHS-funded treatment on discharge. Then at least one of these needs to apply.

• Medical need: you need oxygen you cannot manage yourself, specialist equipment or close monitoring on the journey, or a transfer to another hospital. Recent major surgery or treatment side effects needing help also count, as does a condition or disability affecting your dignity or causing public concern on public transport.
• Cognitive or sensory impairment: you need oversight from crew or a trained driver, for example with dementia or significant sight or hearing loss.
• Mobility: you travel lying down or on a stretcher, need bariatric provision, cannot move without help, or use a wheelchair.
• Renal dialysis: you travel to or from in-centre haemodialysis, decided with you.
• Safeguarding: a professional has raised a concern about you travelling alone.
• Missed or delayed care: your mobility or medical needs have already caused treatment or discharge to be missed or badly delayed.

Local systems may add their own criteria, such as a high treatment frequency, long or costly taxi journeys, or poor public transport in the area. Before transport is offered, an authorised eligibility assessor checks whether your own car, a friend or relative, a taxi, public transport or transport you already get through social care would work.

The national list has no distance or cost test. Those appear only where a local system has added them.

Escorts and carers

NHS England allows an escort or carer on the vehicle in four situations: the patient is under 16 and needs someone with them, the patient needs the escort's particular skills or support, the patient cannot be left alone or needs someone who knows them well, or the companion is accompanying an eligible patient who cannot be left alone and does not need help from the crew. Worcestershire's provider adds translators and carers supporting communication. Anyone else travelling with you arranges their own transport.

How to book

Each provider sets its own booking line and notice period. Ask the hospital department treating you or your GP practice for the number. The provider assesses you against the criteria when you ask, and Worcestershire states eligibility is checked on every request, so a past booking does not guarantee the next.

1. Have your appointment date, time, hospital and department ready.
2. Call the provider's booking line. In Croydon this is 020 3967 8399, Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm. In Worcestershire it is 0300 0110 017, every day of the year from 8am to 6pm.
3. Answer the assessment questions. Croydon's ask whether you need skilled help getting in and out of a vehicle and whether your condition makes other transport difficult or risky.
4. Book early. Croydon asks for two weeks' notice for an appointment 2 to 4 weeks away and four weeks' notice for one further ahead.
5. Expect a collection window. Worcestershire usually collects patients within the 2 hours before the appointment, and return journeys run as soon as possible after it.
6. Cancel as early as you can if plans change, so the seat goes to another patient.

What NEPTS does not cover

• journeys to primary care services such as your GP surgery
• patients who can reasonably use their own car, a lift, a taxi or public transport
• companions outside the escort rules
• visitors coming to see an inpatient
• a guaranteed arrival time: providers warn of delays on collection and return

NEPTS and the travel costs scheme compared

The two schemes answer different questions. NEPTS asks whether you can travel safely. The Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme asks whether you can afford the fare.

NHS England tells assessors and transport hubs to point people who are turned down towards the travel costs scheme. It also notes people receiving the Disability Living Allowance mobility component, or an equivalent, are unlikely to get HTCS funding as well. Worcestershire sends patients who are not eligible and cannot afford travel to the hospital cashier's office.

Scotland

The Scottish Ambulance Service runs patient transport. Killin Medical Practice lists the booking line as 0300 123 1236 and the cancellation line as 0800 389 1333. Transport is for patients who need ambulance transport because of medical or clinical needs, need the skills of an ambulance care assistant on the journey, or whose condition or recovery would suffer by other means.

Wales

The Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust provides NEPTS across Wales on 0300 123 2303, for booking, cancelling and general information. Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board states a need for treatment does not automatically mean a need for transport. Examples of people who may qualify include patients on regular dialysis or cancer treatment, those needing a stretcher or oxygen and those unable to walk without continual support. If you are not eligible, an Alternative Transport Team can talk through options near you.

Northern Ireland

The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service runs the service, and you cannot book it yourself. A doctor must confirm your condition is so severe you are unfit to travel by other means. Your GP requests transport for the first appointment and the hospital consultant books any others within 3 months, at least 48 hours ahead. Escorts travel only when the patient medically needs one, and a child under 16 must be accompanied by an adult. Queries and cancellations go to the Regional Non Emergency Medical Dispatch Centre on 028 7134 7134.

Mistakes that cost money

Assuming last month's booking carries over. Eligibility is reassessed on each request.

Bringing a companion without checking. The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service warns an unplanned escort may not get a seat.

Paying for taxis after a refusal without checking the travel costs scheme. A qualifying benefit or HC2 turns the fare into a refund, as long as any taxi is agreed with the hospital first.

Where the figures come from

The 31 May 2022 criteria, the 2019 review, the eligibility groups, escort rules, primary care exclusion, assessor role, HTCS signposting and Disability Living Allowance note are from NHS England's eligibility criteria document. The Croydon number, hours and notice periods are from Croydon Health Services. The Worcestershire number, hours, collection window and escort additions are from Worcestershire Acute Hospitals. The Scottish booking and cancellation lines are from Killin Medical Practice. The Welsh number and examples are from Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. The Northern Ireland rules and number are from the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service.