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Patient First, the leading patient transfer service, is investing £1 million in an ongoing replacement of its ambulance fleet, including new state-of-the-art bariatric ambulances to enable it to provide extra services to its clients.

The expansion in services comes after the company was acquired by NSL, the prominent outsourcing provider specialising in transport and related services for the public sector.

Patient First's Chief Ambulance Officer, Wayne Spedding, commented: “Patient First has grown from a one vehicle business to one of the country's leading patient transfer services. NSL will be able to underpin the next stage in our growth, and the updating of our fleet is the first stage of that.”

The first new ambulances will be delivered in June, including another specialist vehicle to add to the bariatric fleet , enabling Patient First to extend the bariatric transport services it offers.

“The UK's problem with obesity is not going to
go away, and health services have to respond,” commented Wayne. “Companies which supply services to the NHS must ensure they innovate to deliver as flexible a service as possible.”

Wayne, who founded Patient First, has worked on a Department of Transport advisory panel on new legislation affecting licensing of the passenger transfer industry.

Patient First, based in Shrewsbury, employs more than 170 people, and provides non-emergency patient transport and associated services to NHS and local authorities countrywide, including Birmingham Women's Hospital and Shropshire and Herefordshire NHS Trusts.

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