The New South Wales Government has recognised National Patient Transport (NPT) for its outstanding performance during the COVID-19 pandemic as a partner of Patient Transport Service.
NPT, a national provider of non-emergency patient transport and subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Corporation Australia (CDC), has been presented with a NSW Premier’s Award in Recovery and Resilience as a Partner Organisation for its COVID-19 discharge shuttle service.
Operating during the outbreak of the Delta variant, NPT’s shuttle service ran 24 hours a day, seven days a week, taking COVID-19 patients discharged from hospitals to their homes. The service ran at regular intervals from hospitals within the Sydney metropolitan area.
NPT ran the shuttle service in conjunction with CDC’s bus transport business, using a fleet of CDC minibuses staffed with NPT clinicians and driven by specially trained CDC bus drivers.
The New South Wales Government awarded NPT as a partner for their unique ability to provide these services reliably.
During 2021, NPT completed more than 4,500 COVID-19 patient transfers without enabling any additional transmission of the virus.
NPT CEO, Damian De Zilva, said the win shows the appreciation that the New South Wales Government has for NPT’s innovative service that was made possible by being part of ComfortDelGro Australia’s family of mobility solutions.
“The outbreak of the Delta variant in 2021 presented a challenge which National Patient Transport and ComfortDelGro Australia rose to by delivering a successful patient transport solution,” Mr De Zilva said.
“Our COVID-19 discharge shuttle service allowed for bulk patient transport movements at a time when patient flow was critical, and this solution could only be delivered due to the land transport expertise of ComfortDelGro Australia’s bus business, partnered with the professionalism and patient care that NPT is known for.
“Within one week of the outbreak, demand for hospital transfers increased by 1000 per cent. However, we managed to prevent patient transfer wait times from increasing significantly.
“We’re proud that we helped to improve patient flows in hospitals at a crucial time, allowing patients to spend less time in hospital and giving more people access to care when they needed it.
“Providing innovative solutions like this one is at the very heart of ComfortDelGro Australia’s values of linking people to places and communities,” he said.
The NSW Premier’s Awards celebrates excellence in the delivery of public services to the community by the public sector and not-for-profit organisations and private businesses, in partnership with public sector agencies and departments.
NPT operates in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia using a large fleet of over 200 specialised patient transport vehicles. It provides over 200,000 patient transfers annually with its dedicated patient transport services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
