Classification: Official
Publication reference: PRN01262_vii

To:

• integrated care boards:
  • chairs
  • chief executive officers
  • chief operating officers

Dear colleagues,

Dialysis transport support offer

Dialysis patients, in general, attend dialysis 3 times each week, for life (or until they receive a successful kidney transplant). Therefore efficient transport is vitally important for patients, not least as it has the potential to directly impact their care and treatment outcomes.

In May 2022, NHS England published the national eligibility criteria for non-emergency patient transport services (NEPTS) including a recommendation for a universal transport support offer for patients travelling to and from in-centre haemodialysis treatment.

The national NEPTS eligibility criteria also recommends that NEPTS is offered to all in-centre dialysis patients as standard. However, sometimes other forms of transport might suit a dialysis patient better (such as the patient taking public transport, when driving themselves or being driven by a friend or relative).

The universal dialysis transport support offer therefore provides a mechanism for each dialysis patient to choose transport options that are best for them, and to receive financial reimbursement at a locally agreed rate for those journeys.

More details on how this universal offer should operate can be found on the NHS England website.

While some integrated care boards (ICBs) do make this offer to their dialysis patients already, this has not been widely taken up. The information attached is designed to help other ICBs consider and implement this offer.

Over the last few months, NHS England has been working with a broad range of NEPTS and renal stakeholders to develop a framework of tools and guidance that will support ICBs in making an informed decision on whether they can offer this locally. The various elements of the framework accompany this letter and are also available online via the FutureNHS website (FutureNHS login required).

We encourage each integrated care board to:

1. assign a senior responsible officer to oversee the consideration and implementation of the universal dialysis transport support offer in their local areas

2. use the economic model to estimate the cost impacts of implementing the offer locally

• most of the ICBs which have already undertaken this step have found that making such an offer reduces their overall transport costs for dialysis patients, by substituting expensive NEPTS journeys for cheaper, more flexible alternatives

3. set up a working group with its local dialysis units, Healthwatch England, and other key stakeholders to plan for the implementation of this universal offer as soon as possible, and by March 2026 at the latest

Should any ICB need any further support with, or discussion of, the steps outlined above, please contact NHS England’s NEPTS team at england.neptsreview@nhs.net.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Stephen Powis, National Medical Director, NHS England
Dr Emily Lawson DBE, Chief Operating Officer, NHS England