Trust set to compete • West Berkshire Hospital Transport Services
Page 12
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
will be forced to apply for a full 0-licence and compete with private contractors for the services it provides West Berkshire Health Authority when it achieves trust status on 1 April.
The new status will allow Transport Services to carry nonhospital goods, but transport manager David Turner denies his 13 vehicles (four 7.5-tonners and a mixture of Escort and Transit vans) will be competing with commercial carriers in the region. "We are merely looking at ways of filling our vehicles," he says. "Any increase in our services will come about as an expansion of current services operating in-house within our hospital system."
The fleet currently operates a scheduled collection and delivery service for 49 sites in west Berkshire and south Oxfordshire, including hospitals in Henley, Reading, Fairmile, Newbury and Wokingham.
"This year," says Turner, "we are simply testing the water to see how we can operate our vehicles more efficiently."