To ask the Minister of Health, in order to reduce the fees paid by his Department for private taxis taking patients to and from appointments, to detail the cross-departmental work he plans with the Department for Infrastructure to ensure better support for community transport services.

The eligibility criteria for the Hospital Travel Costs Scheme are published on the NI Direct website:

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/help-health-costs

A person is either automatically entitled to a refund if they are in receipt of certain benefits or they have to apply through the Low Income Scheme. A patient may get back all or some of their travel costs depending on which certificate they have been given. Guidance for refunding travel expenses refers to ‘reasonable travel expenses’ and advises that travel costs should be calculated on the basis of the cheapest form of public transport available to the patient.

Health and Social Care (HSC) Trusts administer the Hospital Travel Cost Scheme on behalf of the Department of Health. HSC Trusts are responsible for informing patients of their entitlement, checking the appropriate travel costs and refunding patients travel costs to which they are entitled.

If public transport is unavailable or impractical (perhaps the patient can't get to their appointment on time or their mobility is restricted), the patient is advised to contact the hospital in advance of their appointment to check if their new travel arrangements are allowed under the Hospital Travel Costs Scheme.

In 2023, the Department for Infrastructure established a cross-departmental working group on Community Transport, which included active participation from the Department of Health.

The working group aims:

to maximise the benefits of the current services provided by community transport using existing resources and explore whether any more resources are available; and

to maximise the future potential of community transport.

My officials have provided an overview of HSC Transport to better define the boundaries between HSC, public transport and Community Transport. Officials are cognisant that people use Community Transport to access HSC and other public services, with further exploration required to understand the drivers behind usage.

The group have collaboratively developed recommendations for how this work can be further progressed, subject to a Ministerial meeting across relevant departments.