ARRIVA ACQUIRES PATIENT TRANSPORT SPECIALIST AMBULINE TO DEVELOP
TRANSPORT SOLUTIONS BUSINESS
Arriva has announced it has acquired Birmingham-based specialist patient transport company Ambuline Limited (Ambuline) to expand Arriva’s position in social and healthcare passenger transport markets and build on the partnership the organisations have developed in securing non-emergency patient transport contracts.
sector organisations to identify and deliver innovative solutions to
help fulfil their transport needs more efficiently, including special
education needs transport, social care transport and patient
transport.
Established in 1979, Ambuline employs some 240 people and today
provides up to 1,000 patient journeys each day in the East Midlands,
West Midlands, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire and Humberside for National Health Service (NHS) Trusts and other public sector organisations. Arriva has acquired 100 per cent of the Issued Share
Capital of Ambuline Limited for an undisclosed sum.
Jonathan May, managing director of Arriva Transport Solutions, said: “Over the last year Arriva and Ambuline have worked together to respond to tenders to provide non-emergency patient transport
services. Combining the specialist and clinical expertise of Ambuline with Arriva’s scale, geographic reach and fleet and logistics management expertise has proved successful in securing contracts.
“Bringing the Ambuline team, led by directors Paul Willets and Dennis Jones, into Arriva Transport Solutions cements that partnership. The recent contracts we secured together in the East Midlands effectively double the size of the Ambuline non-emergency patient transport business and firmly establish us in this important and growing market.”
Arriva Transport Solutions and Ambuline have recently been awarded a number of NHS contracts to deliver non-emergency patient transport services. These include contracts, starting in July, to provide about 500,000 patient journeys a year for NHS Trusts in Leicestershire and
Nottinghamshire.
To fulfil these contracts Arriva is investing £6 million in a fleet of more than 130 new ambulances and cars. The start of the contracts on 1 July 2012 will see 290 staff previously employed by the East Midlands Ambulance Service transfer to Ambuline under the Transfer of
Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE).
Operations will be overseen by two new Arriva control centres in Nottingham and Leicester, utilising state-of-the-art GPS satellite location systems linking the ambulances with Arriva’s patient
transport booking system, to ensure patients get to and from appointments on time. Further innovations include internet and SMS text technology which will enable patients to confirm they are ready to be collected and “ring when ready” pick up services when appointments are completed.
http://www.arriva.co.uk/arriva/en/media_centre/press_releases/2012/2012-06-26/
http://www.ambuline.ltd.uk/v2/vehicles.php?id=84
Information from Tony Wilson
