A report into the botched Patient Transport contract has now been released. It shows that there was a whole list of failings in preparedness and oversight which resulted in thousands of patient journeys late or missed after the contract was taken over in April.

It’s clear from the report that Coperforma’s overconfidence is a major factor in this shambles, however I’m more concerned and disappointed that the monitoring process and oversight in the run-up to the hand-over was botched. While Coperforma was saying everything was fine, the evidence shows that they hadn’t sufficiently demonstrated that they were ready for the contract. The report shows that some obvious safeguard – such as a phased implementation and the hiring of a PTS specialist to support the transfer – were not considered by the CCG, but should have been.

It feels like the CCG forgot about the people who use the service and who were to be impacted the most by the failings. My office was deluged with calls and emails from vulnerable people affected by this procedural failing and I will be calling for all of the report’s recommendations to be implemented for any future major projects.