Welsh Ambulance Service asks public to help others by giving sufficient notice when cancelling journeys

10.07.26

The Welsh Ambulance Service is asking the public to give sufficient notice when cancelling bookings to its extremely busy Non-Emergency Patient Transport Service.

The Non-Emergency Patient Transport Service (NEPTS) handles tens of thousands of journeys to hospitals each month, taking patients for treatments such as oncology and dialysis.

The service transports people from across Wales who for medical reasons, are unable to make their own way to and from appointments at clinics, hospitals and day centres.

Unfortunately, the Welsh Ambulance Service sees thousands of journeys cancelled at the last minute or when crews arrive to collect the patient, meaning it is either too late to offer the appointment to someone else or even notify the ambulance crew not to attend the patients address.

So far this year, the service received more than 20,000 short notice cancellations, giving insufficient time for the journey to be offered elsewhere.

Mark Harris, Assistant Director of Operations (Ambulance Care), said: “Broadly speaking, cancellations are good for the service if they are received with sufficient notice, allowing us to offer the available slot to someone else.

“This helps maximise our resources and ensure that patients who would otherwise have missed out on a journey are able to be transported.

“However, when the cancellation comes in at the last minute, there is insufficient time to reallocate the vehicles and crews, meaning patients are missing out.

“Therefore, we are asking everyone to consider carefully before booking whether they need an ambulance crew or can use an alternative method to get to their appointment.

“Should a patient no longer need their booked ambulance transport, it is vital that they let us know as early as possible to free up space to help other patients.”

The Trust has several ways for patients to cancel their scheduled journeys, including visiting the Cancel Transport page online, by calling the non-emergency transport booking line on 0300 1232303 or, if they are signed up to the SMS service, by replying ‘cancel’ to any text updates.

The Welsh Ambulance Service will also shortly be releasing a patient app to allow patients to cancel using their mobile phones or tablets.