Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people aged over 65 have adequate transport to and from routine hospital appointments.

Non-emergency patient transport services (PTS) are available for patients that meet certain criteria, including but not limited to those who are aged over 65 and satisfy one or more of the criteria outlined in the document Eligibility Criteria for Patient Transport Services.

A patient’s eligibility for PTS should be determined either by a healthcare professional or by non-clinically qualified staff who are both clinically supervised and/or working within locally agreed protocols or guidelines, and employed by the National Health Service or working under contract for the NHS.