Non-Emergency Hospital Transport

This service is provided by ERS Medical.

NHS Norfolk state that ‘only patients who have a genuine medical need will be considered for NHS funded transport, and these could include:

• Patients who need to be transported on a stretcher
• In-patients who are being medically transferred to another hospital for specialist treatment and who have a medical need during the journey
• Patients who require continuous oxygen or other medical gases
• Patients who require continuous intravenous support

To enable the Trust to provide a quality service for those who are most in need, the questions below are those that you will be asked to determine if you qualify:

• Do you have any means of getting to and from the hospital by public, private transport or by family or friends?
• Do you receive mobility allowance?
• Do you have any mental health problem, illness or a learning disability as a result of a severe mental impairment?
• Are you receiving treatment whereby you experience physical side-effects on the day of your appointment?
• Do you have severe eyesight problems either short or long term?
• Do you have severe mobility problems as a result of illness or injury to lower limbs?
• Do you have severe mobility problems as a result of heart, lung or breathing difficulties?
• Do you have an uncontrolled illness, for example, uncontrolled epilepsy?
• Is the patient a child with disability or special needs?
• Do you need to be accompanied on your journey to hospital?

The following are not in themselves reasons for the provision of non-emergency transport:

• The age of the patient
• The distance the patient needs to travel
• The availability or otherwise of alternative (public) transport options
• The cost of other ways of travelling to an appointment
• Patients who are undergoing specific treatment regimes eg. chemotherapy

ERS Medical Booking Line: 0333 240 4100 – transport can be booked up to 2 days in advance of an appointment.

If you do not qualify for hospital transport, you could contact Transport Plus which is a community car scheme that covers most of Norfolk – tel: 0344 800 8020.