Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) have new guidance for patients travelling alone with their non-emergency Patient Transport Service from Monday, 15th July.

All requests for a patient to travel alone with Yorkshire Ambulance's non-emergency Patient Transport Service (PTS) must be made by completing the ‘request for patient to travel alone’ form.

If this form is not received and approved by YAS prior to the journey taking place, the patient will travel with others. YAS will not take bookings directly from patients who need to travel alone, they will be redirected to the department involved in their care.

YAS are unable to accommodate requests to travel alone due to a patient’s preference.

Why is the process changing?

Conveying patients on their own out of preference rather than medical need in non-emergency vehicles decreases the availability of transport to other patients. This results in more late arrivals or missed appointments as the service and vehicles available are spread too thin.

This revised process will also help to ensure that healthcare sites are aware of a patient’s infection status and can plan for this accordingly.

Who can make a request?

The request for a patient to travel alone must be made by a clinician involved in their care. If your patient does not require adapted care, such as barrier nursing or isolation, the request for a single occupancy journey will not be accepted.

How to request for a patient to travel alone?

Follow these steps to arrange a journey for a patient who must travel alone:

• Book the journey as you usually would, either online or through the call centre on 0330 678 4000
• If booking via the call centre be sure to tell the call handler that your patient must travel alone. You will be directed to a form.
• If booking online you will be directed to complete a webform: request for patient to travel alone form
• Complete the form - including the patient's details and the journey information for your booking, as well as the reason that single occupancy transport is required.
•  If you have been sent an electronic copy of the form, this should be emailed to: yas.ptsbooking@nhs.net
• If this form is not approved by YAS prior to the journey taking place, the patient will be planned to travel with others.

Please remember: Patients are only eligible for NHS-funded transport if they have a medical or mobility need and are unable to travel by any other means. Patients should make their own way to hospital wherever possible, patients who may need adapted care such as barrier nursing or isolation may be able to travel independently or with those they live with.

For any queries relating to this process, please email: yas.ptsbooking@nhs.net