Barbara has slammed Arriva Transport Solutions after the company admitted they have been “overstating” performance achievements and that they claimed too much money from Clinical Commissioning Groups in the North West.

Arriva transport reported the failures to Blackpool Clinical Commissioning group who are responsible for commissioning patient transport services for the North West. Poor performance by the company had already been identified in 2013 because of its failure to meet targets around appointment arrival, return pick up times and hospital discharges. Barbara had sent in serious complaints about the organisation a couple of weeks before this news emerged.

Barbara said:

“It is shocking to hear that Arriva Transport Solutions admit that they have been overstating their performance achievements and incorrectly claiming money from public funds. I have sent in complaints about their performance and it is clear now how much they have failed patients in Salford, failed the NHS and the taxpayer.”

“I have raised concerns over long waiting times and other poor performance by Arriva patient transport. I know that other MPs in Greater Manchester have also complained about them.  I strongly believe that this service should not have been contracted out to the private sector and that patients have suffered.”

“I welcome the investigation into this and the fact that Arriva Transport Solutions will not be bidding for the contract for non-emergency patient transport services in the North West after 2016. I have very strong concerns about Arriva still having a patient transport contract until then. Our commissioners must do more to ensure that companies providing NHS services are acting in the best interests of patients and I will ask Salford commissioners to do that.”