We are delighted to announce that we will be continuing to provide non-emergency Patient Transport Services (PTS) in Northamptonshire and Derbyshire beyond the end date of the current contracts.
Our commissioners (the NHS organisations which pay for the services) have agreed that EMAS will continue to provide NEPTS in Derbyshire until March 2023, and in Northamptonshire until March 2025.
The finer details of these contracts are still being finalised, but the commitment has been made that EMAS will continue to be the PTS provider in these areas.
The Northamptonshire contract includes the provision of brand new vehicles for our PTS colleagues across the division as many of the vehicles they are using are coming to the end of their working lives.
Many of these new vehicles are currently being built or are already at our Fleet workshop in Alfreton being kitted out, and the very first two new PTS ambulances have been delivered to the PTS station at Brackmills Industrial Estate in Northampton, ready to be used for our patients. There are 27 new vehicles being rolled out in this batch - 14 stretcher vehicles and 13 seated ones.
We are also in discussions with our Derbyshire commissioners to agree funding for a refresh of the PTS vehicles in Derbyshire, and so we hope to be able to share more news about this with colleagues soon.
Thank you to everyone who continues to be involved in these contract negotiations, and to our Fleet team for preparing the new vehicles as they arrive so they are ready for our frontline PTS colleagues to use.