LETTER: Confusion over ambulance trips

I have recently been hospitalised for the first time in my 64 years, due to a tumour in a bone in my leg. This resulted in a leg and hip amputation at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, which is recognised as the best in the land.

The treatment and staff were first class and I was soon having daily physiotherapy to get me back on track. This was to be followed up on discharge by further physio at Horsham Hospital who duly telephoned me to make my first, and very important, appointment.

Now privatisation steps in as it seems that whilst the ambulances are managed by the South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECamb), their movements are controlled by Patient Transport Services (PTS), who seem to be completely ignorant of geography and basic transport management skills.