We will be contacting all our affected members on Monday 2 October. If you have any concerns please call our regional office on 01245 608942
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For immediate release:
29 September 2017 18.00
One of the largest providers of private ambulance services in the Eastern region went into administration today.
Private Ambulance Service Ltd, who were awarded the contract to run patient transport service in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire only 7 months ago, notified all staff by email on Friday that an insolvency practitioner Greenfield Recovery Ltd had been instructed to place the company into administration.
Tim Roberts Regional Manager for UNISON, the public service union, who represents workers in the failed company said:
“We have been very concerned about this company for months. Both patients and staff have suffered. We know of numerous cases of vulnerable patients not being collected from hospital and ambulances that failed to meet even basic standards of road worthiness. Wages were not being paid, credit lines were closing down, and contributions to the pension schemes held back. It was obvious that the company was dying on its feet.”
“This is the second time a private company has failed to deliver this contract in 2017. It is a clear example of why outsourcing patient transport services to the cheapest provider simply doesn’t work. Patients and our members deserve better.”
“Our immediate concern is for the hard working staff who now have an anxious weekend ahead of them. We have already had urgent talks with the Clinical Commissioning Groups and the East of England Ambulance Trust to discuss how this vital service can be delivered in the future, and how both staff and patients can be protected”