Patient Experience Overview
We have always strived to deliver the best possible patient experience which meets every need. A lot of our UK long-distance journeys involve travelling from as far as Scotland to Cornwall and that can be a daunting process by car in some cases.
Whilst some journeys must be made on a stretcher due to mobility or injury, many of our customers choose to trust us in moving their family members simply because it offers them complete peace of mind. We are a family business with well-over 100 employees who are all experienced, caring and dedicated. All regulated ambulance services are required to have staff trained in areas such as dementia awareness as well as all the usual medical things. If you are considering a provider you should check their rating as this will give you an idea of their compliane. We’re hoping to be rated ‘Outstanding’ when we next get inspected. Since July 2022 the CQC added a new requirement for training all staff in learning disabilities and Autism and we are 100% compliant with this.
What does that look like?
We break journeys down into 3 distances. Short journeys such as local hospital appointments, up to 4 hours and then tor all journeys over 4 hours, we plan use our long distance individual journey plan. When we receive your initial enquiry we firstly screen it. We review the level of staffing likely required and we provide you with a costing. We aim to respond to 90% of requests in under 30 minutes during office hours. We take enough information in order to establish if for example journey will require a paramedic or not. We’ll send you a quote with loads of information about us and the journey and all the frequently asked questions. Our bookings team will answer questions by email or phone and they sit adjacent to the clinical management team so have direct access to qualified advice.
Once you book we will gather information about anyone traveling onboard but specifically the person who we tend to call the ‘patient’ rather than ‘service user’. Our information gathering varies depending on the level of needs but includes the medical information you get asked when you see a doctor such as any current medical problems, the history of those, allergies, current medication, mobility, as well learning disabilities or neuro diversities and communication needs.
Long Distance Journey Plan
For long distance journeys, we will ask questions about food, drinks and snacks to preference, memory, and general likes and dislikes. We will put in place and individual plan to make the journey patient centred. If you are booking the journey for yourself, you will be in control of your care. If you are moving a relative for example we will take the guidance from you and the current carers we will also validate that they have capacity to agree to the transport or that the relevant legal powers of attorney are in place and that the movement is in their best interests.
We don’t send you the plan, but it gets reviewed by our logistics and clinical team. They will make sure things like prescribed medications that fall during are listed with the correct times for the crew, they will also make sure we have the right skill level onboard for planned and unplanned care. For example a patient with a serious fractures might need strong painkillers onboard that can only be administered by a paramedic. They would decide if this was needed. The team will plan journey times with traffic in mind, positioning crew potentially the day before. They will select drink, snack and lunch choices to meet the favourites list. Please bear in mind we do not have kitchens or ovens onboard. However you can expect some healthy and a few unhealthy treats that you like. We’ll also consider things like music tastes and background.
Case Study
An 88 year old patient suffering from dementia, travelling from a care home in the north to one in the south.
The patient might not know where they are going or why
They might be agitated or upset or keep asking where they are going for the entire journey.
The individual journey plan might include:
Ensuring all physical and medical needs are cared for and the crew have notes and briefing
A spotify playlist of music they like so the crew can play it on the vehicles speaker system
Ensuring Drink, Food and snacks, onboard are things the like
Pre-loading a tablet with their favourite television programs to watch
Provide a comfortable air mattress that will make them feel safe enabling them to travel comfortably with their feet up and prevent any sores.
Make appropriate plans for stops during the journey
A details background briefing for the crew on topics they might like to discuss such as career or general interests if appropriate.
Ensuring we provide any contacts with updates during the journey
Call us on +44(0)203 627 9042
Please note our private transfer team are only available by phone Mon-Fri 09:00 -17:00
Electronic requests are monitored outside of core working hours.