Patient transport services in Coventry and Warwickshire

Patient transport services in Coventry and Warwickshire

Umar Jahangir | Hampton Travel | Last updated: 5 August 2026

Quick answer: Hampton Travel runs pre-booked patient transport across Coventry, Rugby, Nuneaton, Warwick and the rest of Warwickshire. Door to door, named DBS-checked driver confirmed in advance, wheelchair accessible vehicle available. We are licensed private hire, not an ambulance service. Call 0800 061 4661.

Most people looking for patient transport are not looking for a taxi. They are trying to get a parent to an appointment, or get home after a procedure, without it turning into the hardest part of the day.

What we are, and what we are not

Worth settling first, because it saves a wasted phone call.

We are a private hire operator licensed by Coventry City Council. Every journey is pre-booked, with a named driver assigned in advance and a price agreed before travel. Drivers are DBS-checked. We hold transport contracts with Warwickshire County Council.

We are not an ambulance service, and we are not CQC-registered non-emergency patient transport. We do not carry stretcher patients and we provide no clinical care during the journey. If someone needs medical supervision in transit, that is an NHS or private ambulance job and we will say so rather than take the booking.

What we cover is the ground in between, which is where most of the need sits: a passenger who is medically stable but cannot drive, cannot manage the bus, and should not be left standing at a kerb with an app open on the morning of an appointment.

If the NHS has told you to arrange your own transport

NHS non-emergency patient transport has eligibility criteria, and most people do not meet them. If your mobility is fine but you simply cannot drive yourself, whether because of the procedure, the anaesthetic, the medication or because you never drove in the first place, you will usually be told to make your own arrangements.

The same applies to every private appointment. West Midlands Ambulance Service does not transport patients to private hospitals, so anyone attending Nuffield Health Warwickshire or The Meriden Hospital is arranging it themselves regardless of circumstances.

That is the gap this service fills.

Where we take people

University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire at Walsgrave is the most common destination. It is a large site with separate entrances for outpatients, the Arden Cancer Centre and the main building, and the difference between the right door and the wrong one is a long walk for someone who cannot manage one. Tell us the department and we will drop at the nearest entrance.

Hospital of St Cross in Rugby is run by the same trust and handles a good deal of outpatient and day case work locally. Rugby patients often have two destinations rather than one, because anything St Cross does not cover means a fifteen mile run into Coventry.

George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton is its own NHS trust rather than part of UHCW, so Nuneaton patients frequently end up with appointments at two or three different sites in one course of treatment. We cover all of them.

Warwick Hospital serves south Warwickshire, where referrals are as likely to go to Birmingham or Oxford as to Coventry.

Plus the private sites: Nuffield Health Warwickshire in Leamington Spa, and The Meriden Hospital on Clifford Bridge Road in Coventry CV2.

Getting home afterwards

The return leg is where most transport arrangements fall apart, because clinics overrun as a matter of routine and a fixed return time is a guess.

We do not book a return for a set time and leave you to make it. Ring the driver when you are actually finished. The waiting is planned into the job rather than appearing as a charge afterwards.

After a procedure this matters more. Patients are told not to drive, and often advised against public transport because of infection risk or restricted mobility. Private hospitals generally require a responsible adult to accompany you home. A pre-booked collection means the car is already confirmed against your discharge time rather than being searched for while you sit in a waiting room.

Repeat appointments

Dialysis, oncology, physiotherapy and outpatient follow-ups mean the same journey several times a week, sometimes for months. Over that many repetitions two things matter more than anything else: the car turning up when it said it would, and it being the same driver.

We allocate driver continuity on recurring runs wherever the rota allows. For a passenger who is anxious or confused, a familiar face every week is the difference between a manageable morning and a bad one. Ask for it when you book. It costs nothing.

Wheelchair users

We run a wheelchair accessible vehicle with a side-loading ramp, four-point M1 restraint anchored to the vehicle floor, and a separate lap and shoulder belt for the passenger. Drivers are trained on the restraint procedure.

Drivers do not perform lift transfers. That is the correct position rather than a reluctant one: no insured private hire driver should be manually lifting a passenger, and done badly it injures both people. A lift needs trained mobility staff or a family member present. Tell us at booking who is doing it if one is needed.

It is a single vehicle, so accessible bookings need more notice than standard ones. Full detail on the medical and accessible transport page.

Care homes

For care homes we work as a standing arrangement rather than booking by booking: a named contact, agreed pickup windows, the same drivers seeing the same residents, and a logged record of every journey with dates and times against it.

That record is the part managers care about. If you are asked to evidence how a resident got to an appointment and who drove them, reconstructing it afterwards is not good enough. We keep the audit trail as routine because our council contracts require it.

Visiting consultants

Private hospitals across the region rely on consultants travelling between sites, often connecting through Birmingham Airport. A surgical list does not wait for a delayed pickup, so those runs are booked the same way: fixed time, named driver, confirmed the day before.

Questions we get asked

Are you an ambulance?
No. We are licensed private hire. We carry no medical equipment, provide no clinical care and cannot take stretcher patients. If that is what is needed, you want NHS patient transport or a private ambulance provider.

Can you take someone who needs a wheelchair?
Yes, in our wheelchair accessible vehicle, with the chair secured on a four-point restraint. Give us as much notice as you can, since it is one vehicle.

Can a carer or family member travel too?
Yes. Tell us at booking so the right vehicle is sent.

What if the appointment overruns?
Ring the driver when you are done. Waiting is planned into the job.

Do you cover Rugby and Nuneaton, or only Coventry?
All of Coventry and Warwickshire. Rugby, Nuneaton, Warwick, Leamington, Kenilworth, Bedworth and the villages around them, to any hospital in mainland UK.

Can a care home or clinic set up an account?
Yes. You top up a balance, journeys draw from it at the price agreed per booking, and you get one statement covering every passenger. Details on the travel accounts page.

Booking

Call 0800 061 4661 or request a fixed quote. Tell us the pickup address, the hospital and department, whether the return time is known or open, and whether a wheelchair or a carer is involved.

If we are not the right service for the journey, we will tell you.

Written by Umar Jahangir, who runs Hampton Travel Ltd, a Coventry City Council licensed private hire operator serving Coventry, Warwickshire and mainland UK.

Key takeaways:

• Licensed private hire, not an ambulance and not CQC patient transport
• No stretcher patients and no clinical care during the journey
• Covers Coventry, Rugby, Nuneaton, Warwick and the rest of Warwickshire
• UHCW, St Cross, George Eliot, Warwick Hospital, Nuffield and The Meriden
• Waiting on an overrunning appointment is planned in, not charged as a surprise
• Same driver on repeat appointments where the rota allows, on request
• Wheelchair accessible vehicle with four-point M1 restraint
• Drivers do not lift; trained staff or family must do any lift transfer