FOI 2025/1386

I am writing under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request information on how Non Emergency Patient Transport (NEPT) services are currently commissioned in your area.
For clarity, by NEPT I mean the transport service commissioned (not emergency ambulance) which carries patients to and from routine or pre booked medical appointments and hospital discharges.
Please provide the requested information for your Integrated Care Board (ICB) area. If any information is held at a more local level (e.g., place / sub ICB / former CCG area), please indicate which sub area it relates to.

Please answer the following questions:
1) Which compan(ies) are currently providing your non emergency patient transport (NEPT) services?
2) Do they use any subcontractors and, if so, what compan(ies) are those?
3) What is the £ value of the NEPT contracts you have commissioned (please state annual value or total contract value and indicate which)?
4) What is the length of the NEPT contracts with the providers (initial term and any extension options)?
5) What requirements have you shared with providers for what services they have to run and with what kinds of vehicles (please summarise your specification, including any accessibility/vehicle type requirements, and how many of each kind of vehicle)?
6) Are there any other compan(ies) on your ‘framework’ (or approved supplier list) that can bid for these services in future and, if so, who are they?
7) When are you next due to go out to tender (or re commission) NEPT services, or when do current contracts expire?
8) How long did you have to wait between appointing a NEPT provider and the provider commencing the provision of services (mobilisation period)?
9) Approximately how many patients are served annually by NEPT in your ICB area that require wheelchair accessible transport?
10) Approximately how many appointments do patients miss annually because of lack of accessible transport? What kind of missed appointment (e.g. dialysis) is most common?

If any of the above is not held or not applicable, please state that explicitly (e.g., ‘not held’ or ‘not applicable’). I would prefer to receive the response by email, using the spreadsheet attached.

1. NHS Greater Manchester ICB’s Patient Transport Service is provided by the North West Ambulance Service.
2. No
3. £18,626,000 Annual Value
4. 1 year ending 31st March 2026
5. The service specified requires the provider to make available vehicle types that meet the needs of the mobility of patients as described in the national review
6. We are currently reprocuring the NEPTS contracts which will be through competitive tender
7. The current contract expires on 31/03/2026
8. There was a 6 months mobilisation period provided when the contract was originally let
9. In 2024/25 there were 78,289 Wheelchair journeys in Greater Manchester
10. NHS Greater Manchester are unable to provide this information as it is not held.