Taxi Driver Online

One Flew over the Cuckoos nest. A Taxi driver in charge of an ambulance full of patients whatever next? lol
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The Sentinel (Stoke)

August 20, 2006 Sunday

HEADLINE: Nurses throw dirty drivers off wards

Chris Bourne, senior steward for the hospital's branch of the Royal College of Nursing, said: "Our nurses on the wards are concerned about the standards of the new contract, which are not of the same level as when it was run by the NHS."

It has also emerged that Parkwood is trying to recruit more staff, in an advertisement which appears in today's Sentinel Sunday. This seeks drivers, controllers and even a contract manager and assistant manager.

Hospital Unison branch secretary Pat Powell said: "There have been loads of problems with the contract that are really worrying our members. The worst thing is that they are using taxi drivers to fill in when they don't have enough drivers of their own."

Unions are so worried that patients are being put at risk, they raised fears at a monthly meeting with hospital management on Thursday.

Last week Sentinel Sunday reported Parkwood's teething problems were so serious that managing director Mark Boothroyd had dropped other work to be on site to oversee the necessary improvements. As well as ferrying patients to the University Hospital, the contract also includes services run by mental health and elderly care trust, Combined Healthcare.

Unions were also assured that a senior health official was working on improving the contract and that Mrs Bridgewater would be reviewing it in a month to ensure standards had risen.

Mrs Powell said: "Parkwood is so desperately short of drivers it is turning to taxi firms, other transport companies and wherever they can to get them.

"It has even been asking hospital porters to do driving shifts.

"Where does all this leave the safety of patients? We have asked for reassurances on that point.

"We know of cases where very dependent patients, who used to have two staff lifting them to and from the ambulance, now find just taxi drivers to take them to their appointment.

"Besides not having any training at all, we also question whether these casual drivers have been vetted by the criminal records bureau."

Mrs Bridgewater said: "From some of the issues raised it is clear standards are not acceptable to me, although there have been improvements in the past week and staff from the highest level of Parkwood Healthcare are on site working to resolve problems.

"Some of the difficulties seem to be because fewer staff than expected transferred from the ambulance service to work on the new contract.

"We now need to see how successful the company's recruitment drive is."

Stoke-on-Trent councillor Pauline Joynson, whose parents have also had problems with the service (see above) has received a complaint from a voter, who said a taxi driver was in charge of a non-emergency ambulance.

She said: "If someone in the ambulance had a heart attack, or was bleeding, it could be life-threatening."

No-one from Parkwood Healthcare was available for comment.
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At least they would know where they were going

The Sentinel (Stoke)

August 29, 2006 Tuesday

HEADLINE: We're sorry for ambulance delays

BYLINE: Dave Blackhurst

The boss of a private ambulance company hit by a string of complaints from hospital patients today issued them with an "unreserved apology".

Mark Boothroyd, managing director of Parkwood Healthcare, admitted it has been failing the public since it took over the contract to ferry people from home to hospital appointments.

He blames the problem on its inability to recruit enough staff from Staffordshire Ambulance Trust, which lost the work to Parkwood a month ago.

But Mr Boothroyd says a recruitment drive launched last week will soon bring improvements. The apology came after patients slammed delays in collecting them from home, and complained about being stranded for hours at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire.

They also protested that Parkwood was using taxi drivers to fill staff shortages, and two of the cabbies were even thrown out of the hospital by nurses because they were dirty and untrained.

In one case, 94-year-old Mary Hannon, of Silverdale, died a week after being forced to wait more than six hours on a hospital trolley for a 10-minute ride home.

In a statement issued to The Sentinel, Mr Boothroyd said: "Since starting the contract, we are well aware that we have been failing to meet both the trust and its patients' expectations. We apologise unreservedly for the quite obvious inconvenience and difficulties this will have caused the patients and their families. When the contract started, insufficient numbers of drivers previously employed by Staffordshire Ambulance Trust transferred to us.

"This has resulted in us needing to quickly recruit a significant number of new drivers. "We are committed to providing the hospital and all its associated patient centres with a first-class service. We are confident that in a very short time, the level of service will reach a standard that all can be proud of."

Parkwood has been warned that the contract will be reviewed in a month. Pat Powell, hospital branch secretary of the Unison union, said: "Before the contract had been awarded, you would have thought the trust would have done their checks more thoroughly."

City councillor Pauline Joynson had criticised Parkwood after her 77-year-old parents, Margaret and Len Needham, had been told they were not allowed escorts despite their disabilities. She said: "My mum has one leg, four toes missing on the other foot, a pacemaker, problems with severe diabetes and high blood pressure. She was told she couldn't have an escort but this is distressing for her and my father.

"We managed to get it to overturn the decision for this one occasion but they have told us this will not be allowed in future."

Have you been affected by Parkwood Healthcare's poor performance?
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But as long as it saves the hospital a few quid, who gives a f**k?

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IDFIMH

So is this thing criticising taxi drivers, who have presumably been vetted and checked, in favour of 'Hospital Cars' that are unlicensed and unvetted and unchecked?



Thats terrible, however, theres no depth to the story, was the hospital at fault for not ordering a cab? was the death directly a result of the 6 hour wait?

CC