Mrs L, who has difficulty walking, complained she was unfairly denied patient transport for her physiotherapy appointment despite getting transport regularly in the past.
What happened
Mrs L regularly attends physiotherapy appointments. She used the patient transport service to attend her appointments. In early 2012 she phoned to book patient transport for an appointment but staff told her that she was not eligible. Initially the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust told her that this was because she received the higher rate mobility component of disability living allowance (DLA) but staff later offered her a medical assessment and clarified that she did not meet the criteria for patient transport because she did not have a medical need for it. The criteria had not changed but the Trust had become more rigorous in applying them.
Mrs L complained to the Trust and to the commissioning organisation, Suffolk PCT, about the decision, and also that staff were rude to her. She said that it was unfair to make a decision about her eligibility based on whether or not she was getting the higher rate mobility component of DLA.
What we found
Ambulance Trust staff made some inappropriate comments to Mrs L about the significance of her receipt of DLA, and wrongly implied that their decision would be based on that alone. A member of staff was also disrespectful in some of his comments. However, we considered it appropriate for staff to take into account whether or not Mrs L received the benefit. They also took into account other relevant factors, including whether or not she had a medical need for patient transport. Therefore, they made a fair decision about her eligibility. We did, however, find that some Trust staff seemed to believe that their criteria meant that recipients of the higher rate mobility component of DLA were ineligible for patient transport. We shared our concerns about this with the Ambulance Trust.
Suffolk PCT carried out a reasonable review of the Ambulance Trust's assessment and reached a fair conclusion.
Putting it right
During the course of our investigation the Ambulance Trust apologised to Mrs L for the inappropriate manner of their staff.
East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust
Ipswich and East Suffolk CCG
UK
Came to an unsound decision
Delayed replying to complaint
Not applicable