PARAMEDICS and patients will lose out when a chunk of Gloucestershire's ambulance service switches to a private firm, claim Unions.
The South West Ambulance Service Trust has lost its contract to provide Patient Transfer Services after a bidding process, The Citizen has learned. It currently makes about 300,000 non-emergency journeys a year.
It is understood Arriva Passenger Services Ltd will take on the multi-million pound deal after winning the five-year contract. Around 85 staff will be transferred to the new provider this Autumn.
Unions fear the move will lead to a poorer service for patients. Shane Clark, Unison representative for SWAST, said: "Every paramedic who starts off in the ambulance service starts off in patient transfer. It is a very important tier, and now it is gone. It is a huge time of uncertainty for both staff and patients. Nobody can provide a better service than the ambulance service.
"This is profit before patients."
County health chiefs said the new provider will offer flexibility to cope with ever-changing patient needs and run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Some existing services operate from Monday to Friday.
Chairman of NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group, Dr Helen Miller said: "We want patients to experience safe, timely, clean and comfortable transport. This should help deliver a consistent and joined up service for the individual."
But NHS campaign group 38 Degrees Gloucestershire said the move is the latest step towards full privatisation of the health service.
Caroline Molloy, from the group, said: "No-one wants NHS services privatised, 96 per cent of the Gloucestershire public voted against it last year, so it is appalling these vital NHS services have been privatised. They haven't even asked us this time. It is a real slap in the face. When services are privatised we see time and again that companies extract profits and cut corners by using cheaper, less skilled staff. Patient care suffers as a result."
Arriva has already come under fire from health watchdog the Care Quality Commission in other parts of the country. Its PTS operator Ambuline won a five-year contract in Leicestershire in 2012.
The firm faced sanctions after inspectors found patients were picked up late, there was no proper plan for cleaning ambulances and new staff were allowed to start work before Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks were complete.
Arriva Transport Solutions' Managing Director, Jonathan May said: "We welcomed the CQC inspection.
"It provided Ambuline with an independent perspective on the service we provide to our patients and areas in which we can improve the experience further for the people we transport to and from hospital."
A follow-up visit reported Arriva was fully compliant with its quality standards.
