Seamless Moorfields Care: App & Transport Guide

Attending eye care appointments can sometimes feel like a complex journey, especially when coordinating schedules and arranging transport. For patients of Moorfields Eye Hospital, understanding the available tools and services is key to a smooth and stress-free experience. This comprehensive guide will walk you through managing your appointments efficiently using the NHS App and detail the non-emergency patient transport options available in North Central London and Mid & South Essex, ensuring you have all the information needed for your visit.

Managing Your Moorfields Appointments with the NHS App

The digital age is transforming healthcare, and Moorfields Eye Hospital is at the forefront, leveraging technology to enhance patient experience. From Tuesday 11 June 2024, a significant improvement has been rolled out for patients using the NHS App to manage their eye care appointments at Moorfields: the introduction of real-time notifications and messages. This update aims to streamline communication and provide you with immediate updates regarding your appointments.

Seamless Communication & Notifications

The NHS App serves as a central hub for your healthcare information, and it's now even more powerful for Moorfields patients. It allows you to view all your upcoming Moorfields Eye Hospital appointments that have been added to the DrDoctor portal. Crucially, it also integrates with appointments you might have at other NHS trusts that are linked with the NHS App, offering a consolidated view of your healthcare schedule.

With the new features, if you have your notifications switched on within the NHS App, you will receive timely alerts and messages for critical appointment information. These include:

• Appointment confirmation: Instant verification that your appointment has been successfully booked.
• Appointment reminders: Helpful nudges to ensure you don't miss your scheduled visit.
• Cancelled or rescheduled appointments: Immediate alerts about any changes to your appointment, allowing you to adjust your plans accordingly.

To ensure you never miss vital details, a robust fallback mechanism is in place. If notifications and messages are successfully delivered via the NHS App but you do not acknowledge them within eight hours of being sent, or by 9pm (whichever comes first), the communication will automatically revert to your existing preferred method of contact. This typically means you will receive a text message and/or email, guaranteeing you receive updates even if you're not actively checking the app.

Benefits of Centralised Healthcare

The overarching goal of the NHS App is to bring all your patient healthcare information into one accessible place. This greatly simplifies the process of managing your referrals, appointments, and follow-up care across various NHS trusts that utilise the app. It empowers you with more control and visibility over your healthcare journey, reducing the need to juggle multiple communication channels or remember disparate details. This digital integration is designed to make your interaction with healthcare services more efficient and less burdensome.

Navigating Non-Emergency Patient Transport: Your Journey to Eye Care

For many patients, especially those with specific medical needs or mobility challenges, getting to and from hospital appointments can be a significant hurdle. Non-emergency patient transport services (NEPTS) are crucial for ensuring that everyone can access the care they need. These services are designed for individuals who cannot use public or private transport due to their medical condition. It's important to understand that eligibility for NEPTS is always based on medical need, not social or financial circumstances.

Patient Transport in North Central London (NCL) with DHL

In North Central London, non-emergency patient transport for Moorfields Eye Hospital appointments is provided by DHL. Access to this service is determined through a thorough assessment process, focusing on your specific medical requirements during the journey. When booking, the patient transport assessment centre will use a series of questions to establish your eligibility criteria for NHS-funded transport.

You will typically be given priority if you can demonstrate to the call centre that you:

• Require additional medical support during your journey.
• Find it genuinely difficult to walk. It is particularly important to stress any additional difficulties your sight loss causes you in remaining safe on public transport, any challenges you face in finding new locations for services, and any problems you may have with social distancing.
• Are the parent or guardian of a child who fits these medical or mobility criteria.
• Have an urgent appointment.
• Need to be escorted due to your medical condition – ensure you clearly explain this to DHL.

Booking and Confirmation with DHL

Once your transport is booked, DHL will proactively contact you approximately three days before your hospital appointment to confirm the arrangements. On the day of your appointment, you will receive either an SMS text message or a phone call confirming the precise time your transport is expected to arrive. If, for any reason, you do not receive this confirmation, it is crucial to ring 0333 240 4909 to verify that your transport is still scheduled. Similarly, if your plans change and you no longer require transport, please call the same number to inform DHL, allowing them to allocate resources effectively.

Your Transport Day: What to Expect

It is advised to be ready up to two hours before your scheduled appointment time. This timeframe might be earlier if you live a significant distance from the hospital. Drivers are unable to wait for more than 10 minutes, so punctuality on your part is essential. When it's time to leave the hospital after your appointment, please inform a member of the Moorfields team. They will assist you to the main reception waiting area where your transport will collect you. If your appointment took place at one of Moorfields' other locations, simply let the clinic team know you are ready to depart, and they will advise the transport team.

DHL will endeavour to get you home as quickly as possible. However, please be aware that you may need to wait up to 120 minutes for collection after your appointment. Journeys are carefully planned to make the most efficient use of vehicles, meaning you may share your transport with other patients. This practice is always conducted in strict adherence to national infection control guidelines to ensure everyone's safety.

It's important to note that patient transport is specifically for patients attending booked clinical appointments who meet the eligibility criteria. Transport is not provided for patients attending the A&E department. For Moorfields sites outside of North Central London, such as Ealing, Croydon, and St George’s, you should refer to the website of the host trust for their specific transport arrangements.

Appealing a Transport Decision

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your transport assessment, you have the right to appeal. This appeal will be handled directly by the assessment centre, and the decision will be reviewed by their dedicated nurse team, ensuring a fair and clinical reconsideration of your case.

Patient Transport in Mid & South Essex (MSE) with HTG UK

In Mid & South Essex, non-emergency patient transport services are provided by HTG UK, formerly known as Thames Ambulance Service Limited. This vital service is designed for individuals who medically cannot attend hospital, outpatient appointments, community clinics, or return home after a hospital admission by any other means. It's crucial to understand that NHS-funded transport through this service does not cover journeys to GPs, dentists, pharmacies, or opticians.

Determining Your Eligibility for MSE Transport

Patients seeking assistance with transport to healthcare appointments will undergo an assessment to determine their medical needs and the specific support required during the journey. This assessment can be conducted face-to-face by the doctor or nurse responsible for your care, or over the phone with the transport assessment and booking team. The underlying principle is that it is the patient's responsibility to make their own way to and from healthcare facilities. NHS-funded patient transportation is reserved for situations where it is considered essential for ensuring an individual’s safety, safe mobilisation, condition management, or recovery.

Healthcare professionals and patients are encouraged to explore all other transportation options before accessing NEPTS, including services offered by organisations like the Red Cross and local voluntary transport providers. Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) are not mandated to provide transport based on a patient's financial or social needs. However, financial assistance is available through the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS) for patients on low incomes who do not have a medical need qualifying them for NHS-funded transport.

Detailed Eligibility Criteria for HTG UK Transport

HTG UK provides transport for non-urgent, planned transportation of patients with a medical need, to and from NHS healthcare premises, and between NHS healthcare providers. This covers journeys between a patient's place of residence and healthcare facilities, and between hospitals, for non-primary care services. Patients are assessed against agreed criteria to determine eligibility. You are eligible for NEPTS where your medical condition requires the skills or support of NEPTS staff during your journey, or if it would be detrimental to your condition or recovery to travel by other means. Eligibility is assessed regularly as your condition may change.

Patients who meet the following criteria are typically eligible for transport:

• Those assessed as requiring transportation on a stretcher.
• Inpatients needing transfer to another hospital for ongoing treatment/assessment, requiring assistance from NEPTS staff.
• Patients requiring continuous oxygen or other medical gases, unable to self-administer during transit.
• Patients requiring continuous intravenous support or specialised equipment during the journey.
• Patients requiring monitoring during the journey, or those who have undergone major surgery with a risk of side effects requiring assistance/monitoring.
• Patients with a medical condition or disability that could compromise their dignity or cause public concern on public transport.
• Patients with a communicable disease making public transport or taxi travel impossible.
• Patients clinically determined at risk from using public transport due to being immunocompromised, where private transport or taxi is not possible.
• Patients with a cognitive or sensory impairment (e.g., dementia, learning/communication difficulties, hearing loss, impaired sight) requiring oversight, guidance, or supervision from NEPTS staff due to inability to travel independently.
• Patients with significant reduced mobility (e.g., needing bariatric provision, unable to self-mobilise, wheelchair users needing assistance to transfer).
• Patients travelling to/from haemodialysis treatment.
• Where a safeguarding concern has been raised by a professional regarding the patient travelling independently.

It is important to understand that 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 of alternative (public) transport options.
• The cost of travelling to an appointment.

Patients who have been allocated a Motability vehicle or receive the enhanced rate mobility component of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) are generally not entitled to NHS-funded NEPTS unless there is an additional medical need preventing them from using their own vehicle or allocated funding.

Understanding Escort Policies

Escorts or carers are eligible to travel with patients only when the patient has a medical need for their assistance during the journey. Approval is subject to seat capacity on the vehicle. A maximum of one fully mobile escort is typically allowed per patient. If the patient is admitted overnight and the escort's return journey is not required by the patient, the escort must make their own arrangements to return home.

Escorts are usually approved in specific circumstances, such as when the patient has communication or sensory difficulties requiring assistance beyond what NEPTS staff can provide, for minors under 16 with a physical or mental incapacity, for clinical escorts who are medically required, or when the escort is under the care of the eligible patient and cannot be left alone with no alternative care available.

What if You Don't Qualify for NHS-Funded Transport?

If you do not meet the eligibility criteria for NHS-funded patient transport, you will be advised to make alternative arrangements for your appointment. These can include utilising public transport (bus, coach, train), taxis, or community transport and volunteer services. A comprehensive database of alternative travel arrangements is maintained by the NEPTS provider. For those in Mid & South Essex, details of community transport can often be found on the Essex highways website.

For patients who are not eligible for NHS-funded transport but need help with travel costs, you may be able to claim a refund through the national Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS). This scheme applies to those in receipt of a qualifying benefit, those who qualify for the Low-Income Scheme, or under other specified criteria. More information can typically be found on the ICB website under 'Patient transport' or a dedicated Health Travel Costs Scheme page.

Booking and Contact for HTG UK

For Mid & South Essex, transport with HTG UK is usually booked by your healthcare professional. However, patients can directly contact HTG UK by calling 0808 169 9614 for further information or to discuss arrangements. HTG UK also provides channels for feedback, compliments, concerns, or complaints about patient transport. You can reach them by phone at 0808 164 4696, via email at

[email protected]

, or by post at HTG UK, Harrison Place, Whisby Way, Lincoln, LN6 3AH.

Transport for Out-of-Area Hospitals

In certain instances, patient transport services for hospitals located outside of Mid & South Essex are arranged directly through those hospitals themselves. This means patients or their advocates will need to contact the specific hospital's patient transport service directly to make arrangements. Please be aware that some of these hospitals may require the referral to be made by the patient’s GP. Eligibility for such transport will then be assessed in accordance with that specific hospital's own criteria.

Comparing Patient Transport Services

To provide a quick overview of the key differences and contacts for patient transport services discussed:

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How does the NHS App improve my Moorfields experience?

The NHS App centralises your Moorfields Eye Hospital appointments, allowing you to view them alongside appointments from other linked trusts. From 11 June 2024, it also provides real-time notifications for confirmations, reminders, cancellations, and rescheduling, offering a more convenient and immediate way to stay updated on your eye care.

What if I miss a notification on the NHS App?

If you don't acknowledge a notification on the NHS App within eight hours or by 9pm (whichever comes first), the system will automatically send the communication via your preferred fallback method, usually a text message or email. This ensures you still receive critical updates.

How do I know if I'm eligible for non-emergency patient transport?

Eligibility for non-emergency patient transport is based on your medical need. You will undergo an assessment, either over the phone with a booking team or face-to-face with a healthcare professional, who will ask questions to determine if your condition necessitates NHS-funded transport. This assessment will consider your mobility, need for medical support during travel, and overall safety.

What should I do if my sight loss impacts my ability to use public transport?

When discussing your eligibility for patient transport, especially in North Central London, it is vital to clearly articulate how your sight loss creates additional difficulties for you. Emphasise any challenges with remaining safe on public transport, finding new locations, or maintaining social distancing. This information is crucial for the assessment centre to understand your specific needs.

Can I have someone accompany me on patient transport?

An escort or carer may be permitted to travel with you if there is a medical need for their assistance during the journey. This is subject to vehicle capacity and specific criteria, such as if you have communication difficulties, are a minor with incapacity, or require a clinical escort. Generally, a maximum of one fully mobile escort is allowed.

What if I need to cancel my patient transport?

If you no longer require patient transport, it is important to inform the provider as soon as possible. For North Central London (DHL), call 0333 240 4909. For Mid & South Essex (HTG UK), call 0808 169 9614. Cancelling promptly allows the service to be reallocated to another patient in need.

Is patient transport available for A&E visits?

No, non-emergency patient transport services are generally not available for visits to the A&E department. These services are specifically for patients attending booked clinical appointments who meet the established eligibility criteria.

Are there any costs associated with patient transport?

NHS-funded non-emergency patient transport is provided free of charge for eligible patients. If you do not meet the medical eligibility criteria for NHS-funded transport but are on a low income, you may be able to claim a refund for your travel costs through the national Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS).

Navigating healthcare appointments, especially at a specialist facility like Moorfields Eye Hospital, can be made significantly easier by understanding the tools and support systems available. By utilising the new features of the NHS App for appointment management and familiarising yourself with the patient transport options in your region, you can ensure a more organised, comfortable, and confident journey to your essential eye care. Always remember to communicate your needs clearly to healthcare providers and transport services to receive the best possible support.

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