A hospital or clinic appointment does not mean that you qualify for ambulance transport. To qualify you need to fall into one or both of the groups below:

• where your medical condition is such that you require the skills or support of Patient Transport Service staff on/after the journey and/or where it would be detrimental to your condition or recovery if you were to travel by other means;
• where your medical condition impacts on your mobility to such an extent that you would be unable to access health care and/or it would be detrimental to your condition or recovery to travel by other means.

In some parts of the country the booking for transport is made by doctors and consultants and in other parts patients contact one of our Area Service Offices directly to request transport.

Why do I need to qualify? Patients who are allocated transport unnecessarily may be preventing a patient with a genuine medical reason from getting to hospital.

Can a relative come with me? Unfortunately, space on ambulance transport is very limited. This means that you can’t take an escort with you unless you have a medical need that would require treatment during your ambulance journey. Two examples of this are children and sight impaired patients.