Privacy Notice: Patient Transport Service (PTS)
Non-emergency patient transport is a commissioned service. We provide transport to eligible patients who are unable to use public or other transport due to their medical condition, and include those who are:
- Attending hospital or outreach clinics for secondary care appointments;
- Being admitted or discharged from hospital wards;
- Needing life-saving treatments such a radiotherapy, chemotherapy, renal dialysis, or DVT treatment.
We log details electronically when we receive a booking for the patient transport service that we operate. To process applications for transport, the following information is required:
- Date of birth;
- Name;
- Home address;
- NHS number (this is your unique identification number in the NHS);
- Telephone number (home and/or mobile, to contact you if there is a problem);
- GP Practice (to identify your Integrated Care Board (ICB)).
Other information required for each transport booking will include:
- Destination (where you need to go for your appointment);
- Date and time of travel;
- Patient mobility (helps us to provide the right vehicle for you);
- Name of caller making the booking and contact number.
- You will also be asked about your current health and mobility in order to determine eligibility for transport.
Information can be provided by the patient, their carer, or a health care professional.
The information is used to create a record for you and manage your transport bookings. Information is also processed to promote or support the provision of healthcare services to patients. Information is processed on the lawful basis that:
- We have a legal duty to perform our tasks in the public interest or for our official functions;
- It is necessary to protect someone’s life;
- You have given us your explicit consent.
We rely on your explicit consent to process personal information that enables us to produce and monitor equal opportunities statistics. This information will not be used to identify you and not providing it does not prevent you from using the service.
Your transport may be provided by our own staff and volunteers along with other transport providers working under contract to the Trust.
Where you have provided us with your mobile phone number, our Patient Transport Service operates a text message reminder service for patient transport. If your mobile phone number changes or you no longer wish to receive a reminder message by text message, please let us know when you next contact us.
We record all calls for non-emergency bookings for the following purposes:
- To make sure staff act in compliance with our procedures;
- To ensure quality control;
- For training, monitoring and service improvement.
It may be appropriate to share your information with other organisations and individuals. These may include:
- NHS Commissioners of Non-Emergency Patient Transport Services, who are responsible for procuring healthcare services to meet patients’ needs. This includes sharing information provided by you, or the person making the booking on your behalf, to our booking team if you subsequently appeal the outcome of the transport request with your ICB.
- Third party organisations working on behalf of Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) NHS Trust. These organisations have been approved by the Trust and are bound by a contract with strict information governance clauses approved by the Department of Health;
- Hospitals and GP services;
- Safeguarding and Social Services;
- Next of kin.
We use third party software supplied and hosted by Cleric to manage our non-emergency patient transport service. Their privacy notice can be accessed by visiting https://cleric.co.uk/Privacy/.
Personal information is shared with NHS Digital under their powers to require or request provision of information needed for the functions it exercises. Information may be shared with other third parties if there is a statutory basis for disclosure or a requirement to comply with a court order.
Records are maintained in line with the Trust’s Records Management Policy and retention periods are based on guidance provided in the Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care (NHS Digital).
