Patient Transport Services

Writing Tenders for Patient Transport Services Contracts

At Executive Compass, we complete many bids and tenders for patient transport services, meaning our team knows how to align responses with NHS and public-sector priorities and expectations.

For example, ICBs and NHS trusts want providers to demonstrate effective partnership working, particularly where transport directly affects patient flow, discharge, clinical appointments and the wider care pathway.

Meeting Diverse Patient Needs

Patient transport services can include supporting people with:

• learning disabilities
• behaviours that challenge
• acute or forensic mental-health needs
• restricted mobility or physical disabilities
• demanding treatment requirements
• complex confidentiality and dignity requirements.

Where conflict management and violence prevention are relevant, responses should reflect current NHS violence-prevention requirements and the provider’s own approved training and governance arrangements.

Tender responses should also explain how vulnerable adults and children are safeguarded during transport and should include escort arrangements, information sharing, incident reporting and escalation.

Eligibility, Booking and Patient Experience

NEPTS bidders will almost certainly need to clearly demonstrate how national eligibility criteria will be applied fairly and consistently. The NHS England’s criteria includes medical need, cognitive or sensory impairment, significant mobility need, haemodialysis attendance and safeguarding concerns amongst others.

A strong response should also explain how booking and scheduling systems keep patients, carers, wards and clinics informed, how cancellations and changes are managed and how delays are communicated. Give examples where possible as it helps to demonstrate past experience of when things do not always go to plan.

Patient feedback must be linked to service improvement so make sure you explain how complaints, compliments, surveys and commissioner feedback are analysed, acted upon and reported.

Reliability, Performance and Mobilisation

Service Reliability is obviously central to a patient-transport contract and is a high-risk element of the service. Evaluators will examine on-time collection/arrival, discharge waiting times, journey length, aborted journeys, contingency cover and how quickly replacement vehicles or crews can be deployed. Your bid could win or lose on these areas and so responses must explain how KPIs are monitored, how exceptions are escalated and how contract-review meetings will be supported by meaningful performance data.

Mobilisation of the contract often attracts a lot of marks. TUPE, recruitment and training, fleet deployment, vehicle checks, technology configuration and the handover of live bookings without a break in service should all be included in your response. Scenario-based questions are particularly common where buyers want to understand how the bidder will respond when normal arrangements fail. Even if they are not included, have your own case studies ready to include.

Accreditations and Compliance

Where regulated activities are being delivered, CQC compliance is critical and registration could be mandatory. But even where it is not buyers will expect appropriate enhanced DBS checks, driver training and assessment, vehicle-maintenance controls, equipment checks and evidence that staff are competent to support passengers with different mobility and clinical needs.

Social Value and Fleet Decarbonisation

Transport contracts always attract scrutiny around their environmental impact. Buyers are increasingly expecting bidders to demonstrate how they will reduce fleet emissions through things like route optimisation, efficient scheduling, lower-emission or zero-emission vehicles and realistic fleet-transition planning. Always provide hard numbers and not percentages in your tender submission.

Social value can also include local recruitment, apprenticeships, workforce development and initiatives improving access to employment. Commitments should be measurable and linked directly to the contract rather than presented as generic or vague promises.

NHS net zero commitments laid out in the NHS net zero supplier roadmap must be met.

How Executive Compass Supports Patient Transport Providers

At Executive Compass, our support can begin even before writing through a bid/no-bid assessment of the opportunity, eligibility criteria and likely resource requirement.

We can then provide:

• complete bid and tender writing
• independent bid review
• pre-bid consultancy
• bid management for larger or multi-workstream submissions.

Since 2009, Executive Compass has completed more than 7,000 tender submissions across public and private-sector procurement, with an auditable success rate in excess of 85%.

Advice from Professional Bid Writers

Executive Compass provides honest guidance and bid/no-bid advice.

If we believe a patient transport tender is not appropriate for your organisation, we will tell you before you commit to bidding. We can also help you identify relevant patient transport tenders in the future and support you throughout the submission process.

Contact us or book a free 30-minute consultation to discuss your opportunity.